


Flight of the Wood God

by EmilliaGryphon



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), MCU, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, gotg
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Origin Story, Origins, Platonic Soulmates, Rocket and Groot, Trees, groots are mean, groots pov, one groot is nice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-02-16 09:28:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 31,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13051215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmilliaGryphon/pseuds/EmilliaGryphon
Summary: The Groots held wisdom beyond all other creatures in the galaxy and they sent delegations to planets of every quadrant to ensure that the natural world was preserved. On Terra they were called “Wood Gods.”---My first Groot-centric fic!





	1. Chapter 1

Back when the galaxy as we know it came into being there exploded from it planets, stars, asteroid belts and meteors. Much later all of these things were organized into quadrants. Each quadrant held thousands of worlds, but there was one which was special for in this quadrant, the 106th there existed planets unlike any other. Many planets contained life but three planets in quadrant 106 had green, growing life forms. Trees, flowers, ferns, grasses, hard, sturdy wood and flowing waters. Other planets had rocks, spore like organisms and aliens. But only Terra, X, and Vidan had leaves and stone and woodland creatures. The Emerald Triad. Such beauty has never been seen since. But soon those in the surrounding quadrants took notice of the bounty of the Emerald Triad and they came after it. Vidan was the first victim. Creatures from across the galaxy pillaged and plundered its forests. Decimated its oceans, defaced its canyon walls. They poisoned it, sucked it dry of every recourse and life force. X and Terra watched it fear as Vidan turned from lush paradise to black choked rock. Feeling ashamed for their inaction to do something, there was one race that named themselves protectors of all green and growing things. The Groots. Groots were a race as ancient as the planets themselves, the first living creatures to emerge from X; which was the first of the Emerald Triad to bring fourth life. Groots were a powerful people, all of them connected to a gargantuan tree which was said to hold an entire other galaxy under its roots.

The Groots held wisdom beyond all other creatures in the galaxy and they sent delegations to planets of every quadrant to ensure that the natural world was preserved. On Terra they were called “Wood Gods” for their ability to talk to plants and regrow themselves if they were wounded. While thought of as pure and wholesome, even they were not free from the coils of corruption. They became greedy and punished severely those who they deemed to be harming the animals and plants. Should a Ixian woman cut a patch of forest to begin a farm, she was taken by the Groots back to X where they performed experiments on their captives. The Groots grew still, connected to each other via seen and unseen webbings of roots both in mind and bark. They spread to other planets, taking over in the name of protection. Their care for growing things turned to cruelty towards anything that was not. For millennia, the Wood Gods were both feared and respected, worshipped and terrible.

In their power, the Wood Gods forgot the core lesson that the fertility of the natural world teaches: everything comes and goes in cycles. The day came when the season of the Wood Gods changed, the day Thanos attacked X and desecrated their tree. It was the same day one young sapling realized the brutality of their people, took a chance, made a daring change and showed the galaxy that there was still goodness and hope to be found in all things that live and grow.


	2. Chapter 2

There was nothing particularly special about this Groot, at least not yet. They were not the eldest, nor the oldest. They had little distinctive features and they spent their life like every other young Groot, learning from the elders who also called themselves Arbor Masters. They listened with their roots to the wisdom imparted to them. It was only after seeing the humans that they began to question such teachings. 

“Like all creatures, the humans of Terra are corrupt. Here we seek to understand the root of why that is, in hopes that we can change them.” This Groot frowned, looking at those suspended in their pods. They pointed, 

“I am Groot?” 

“I am Groot,” the Arbor Master nodded, that is a human in the undeveloped stage, they call it a child. The gender is female. She has not yet grown to know the destructive ways of her race. We will observe her closely to determine at what point she turns. But this Groot looked once more at the little one, her large closed eyes, her small furrowed brow. Her dark skin marked with the tight vines that the Arbor Masters used to kidnap her. She looked so small, so frightened and that was when this Groot began to rustle their leaves. This is wrong. 

This Groot tried to sleep that night, but they could not quell what they had seen in that terrified girl. It was all they had ever known, they were the protectors of all that grew. They were simply doing what was best for the universe. Humans destroyed trees and mountains and valleys. If the Groots could learn why, they could stop it forever and maybe keep other aliens from doing so. Nothing like Vidan would ever happen ever again, they told themselves. But as they closed their eyes and slept they could still feel the horror of that innocent girl. She would never see Terra again. Her wrought face, the sadness of her heart ate away at this Groot’s roots like a parasite. They were supposed to be protectors of all things that grew, humans grew. They were alive. Didn’t that mean they had a duty to protect them too? These philosophies flowered in their mind each day they listened to the increasingly arcane teachings. Groot stood ashamed as they absorbed the lessons of the Elders like water. Groots fed off of each other’s roots, communicating more through their roots than anything else, feeling rather than speaking. Doubts could be felt so long as they were connected to the roots of the others. Better to do something about it sooner before it festered in their core and thus were discovered.

Three rotations of X later, this Groot could no longer take it. They detached their root’s slowly from those Groots around them and precariously made their way to the pods. They tip toed, sneaking from tree to tree, crawling beneath boulders. Almost there, they thought, bending down behind a large boulder where an Arbor Master slumbered. Groot hurried forward, swiping at the dangling vines that obscured the entrance down to the experiment chambers and…something sounded overhead. A large blast that made Groot’s bark shake and bend. They groaned in unison with the others who were shook awake. Once it past, they looked up frantically, instantly sprouting thorns. Looming in the sky above, a vast ship larger than they had ever seen, black with a single circular opening aimed before horizon.

“Planet X,” an omnipotent voice boomed, it sounded like iron. What looked like fire twirled inside of the strange cylinder on the front of the ship, ready to blast forward. The mad titan had come. As the rest of the Groots made their way forward to investigate the intruder, this Groot dove forward, down towards the girl while the first blast of fire hurled toward them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guess this fic is going to be multiple tiny chapters! Also I am using "they them" pronouns for Groot until Rocket genders them as male because biologically speaking if Groot grows flowers with stamens on them-which he does in the comics-then they are technically both male and female. Also I realize that this style I'm doing is more exposition like but I'm doing that on purpose.


	3. Chapter 3

The earth shook around them, soil falling from shattering roots, something deep within the core of the planet disturbed. Still Groot pushed through, they had to. Past the empty pods they ran until they came to that of the small girl who hung suspended and sleeping. Groot stepped slowly, forcing themselves to be calm even as the roots around them whispered fear and panic. Above the echoes of the Arbor Masters sounded the alarm. Groot tried to swallow the impulse to root himself down and stand strong until it was over. Instead they lifted a hand up to the glass, feeling it’s cool smoothness. Inside the girl breathed, in and out, they watched it go over and over, not knowing what it was like to have to breathe.

“I am Groot,” they whispered. The girl’s eyes opened a slit before she screamed, swimming backward from them, her mouth agape and the whites of her eyes rimmed with fear. Groot put their finger up to signal ‘shhh,’ they spread their palm out before the pod, growing a large purple and blue flower for calmness. The girl watched, face slowly replacing fear with wonderment. She raised her small pudgy dark hand to the glass, 

“You…aren’t like them?”

“I am Groot.” The flower continued to grow and she watched, her smile lifting every unfurling petal. Groot’s own heart rimmed with light as she grinned. This is what it means to care for living beings, this is what makes things grow. Indeed Groot felt their heart grow as the girl’s joy spread. A sudden violent shaking made Groot stagger, falling to the cracking ground. The human shrieked behind the glass as a large boulder shattered above, Groot glanced up, rolled and huddled themselves as it was dashed to pieces. 

“I am Groot!” Came the shouts down the tunnels. They’d waited too long. Frantically attempting to balance themselves, Groot punched the codes and grabbed the girl in their arms. They remembered from their lessons the portals that were used for travel. Groot wound their vines around her, holding her small chilly, shaking body to his chest. Another blast, this one deafening and Groot fell once more, twisting themselves to take the brunt of it to shield her. 

“I am Groot!” Their pursuers chanted, spotting them. Groot ran faster across the burning ground. Smoke, charred trees and embers assaulted them as they surfaced once more. All around Groots chanted their mantra and began to root down, taking hold to the planet as they did in every bad storm. But this was no storm and Groot did not want to waste time to figure out what else it could be. 

“I am Groot! I am Groot!” The dozen Groots who chased them cried, calling over three arbor masters. 

“They’re getting closer!” the girl cried, pointing. Groot glanced over their shoulder as they dodged a burning tree. The arbor master released their vines and Groot swallowed as it caught around their arm, it twerked against their bark with a sting. Suddenly a large fiery ball of rock hurled towards them, slamming into the arbor master and two of the other Groots. Groot watched in terror but swallowed it down, almost at the escape pods. They ran across a bridge, and they elongated their legs, stepping from one broken side to the other, through the smog and smoke, to the launch pads.   
“I am Groot!” New foes, some of which now had faces that were warped by the fire, mangled and hurting. Groot hurriedly took the girl and set her down on the pad. Whatever happens I must protect her, they thought. This is the true purpose of the Groots. She is kind, and smart and if she goes back to earth she will teach them, she will make gardens grow. Her fingers wound around their own. 

“You’re not coming?!” She screamed, eyes filled with strange clear sap. Groot felt the heat rising, the stone of the planet cracking. The Groots came closer now, arms outreached and vines groping. Groot looked at her one last time, taking the flower in their hands and plucking it, thrusting it into her arms. 

“I am Groot!” They promised, smiling into her wide yes. They wiped her clear sap with a singe finger and punched it the code for Terra. As an orange cloud of smoke rolled towards them from the ships above, Groot hit the button. She zoomed upwards, shouting in surprise, clinging to the flower. They watched her go, that warmth in their heart still there but now dampened by her departure somewhat. If only they could teach her the true ways of the Groots. The smoke rolled in, Groot coughed, squinting through the painful haze to see the confirmation light on the console. She had arrived safely. Groot smiled in relief, but that smile quickly faded as they felt the strong vines of another arbor masters wrapped around their limbs. The smoke obscured them all, burning their wood and charring their leaves. Groot screamed in pain and felt themselves be crushed to the ground.


	4. Chapter 4

"I AM GROOT!" It thundered through the smoke, the younger Wood Good struggled against the taunt vines wrapping about their body, holding them to the cracking ground. The planet was dying, they could feel it in the soil. All matter of light and life sucked from it, up, up and away. 

"I am G…groot!" They tried to reason as the larger bore down upon them, it's long fingers curling in a ready fist. It lashed out a vine from its wrist, striking the younger Groot across the face painfully. 

"I am Groot?" It demanded. Why? Why had he set that human girl free? They opened their mouth to speak and…a cascade of bright orange and red fire sparked atop the arbor master's back. It screamed, arching backward, vines losing in shock. Groot rolled free, staring as it's body crackled, fire consuming it. Terror, burning, flames. The arbor master clawed at its own bark, opening it's maw to howl in agony as the sap inside of it boiled. Groot could only watch, dumbstruck in terror. Above more ships swooped down, reigning fire that consumed all of the trees. They backed away as the arbor master staggered forward, its remaining arm reaching for them. No! NO! Groot turned to dash away but there was no need. With a strange guttural growl, the arbor master crumbled in on itself, wood entirely blackened. It fell to the ground, a Groot no more, but a pile of tinder's that the fire ate with delicious hunger. Groot fled, searching through the haze to find some refuge but there was none. There was none, they suddenly realized. No more Groots ran in terror, no more roots to connect to. They couldn't feel any of them. How? Groot's limbs felt heavy, its eyes blinking away the debris that fell. Groot toppled, tried to grow their roots into the earth but there was only charred blackness now. 

Get away, they told themselves, get away, but there was nowhere to go. No more safety, no more green growing things. Vitality, love, community, growth, protect. Tired, so tired, so heavy, so sick with choking smoke. Parched, dry, cracking, breaking, burning. Burning. 

"I….a…am…G…Groot…." they choked, and pitched forward, allowing the ashes to kiss their eyes. It burned. It burned. Their forest, their home, burned. 

\---

"We were just going sneak in and get flora samples!" A voice. Groot heard it, far, far away through the muddy darkness of their thoughts.

"Well good thing we brought weapons just in case we were caught, now let's net this thing before it wakes up! Can you imagine the promotion we'd get if we brought back an actual Groot?" Strange words in strange tongues they didn't understand. 

"The last Groot too! This place has been totally obliterated!" Words that Groot did not know the meaning of. They tried to grow out their roots, but no, Planet X was dead. Groot soaked up nothing but sorrow and loneliness through their roots. They opened their filmy eyes, 

"Fuck! It's awake! What do we…" 

"Shhhh!" A human, Groot recognized, behind them several other different aliens. One's they could not discerned. The young Wood Good sat up, bark breaking, sending splintering pain through their legs. They focused on the human before them, a male. It smiled, "Hey…hey there," it bowed. A gesture Groot had learned from the arbor masters. A sign of respect. Groot grinned, someone was here! A living, growing being! They were not totally alone! Maybe the human girl had sent them! Groot reached out one of their vines, as sore as it they were, hugging the man who laughed nervously. "Yeah, yeah, that's right, we're friendly!" He patted the vine that circled around his toro. Groot put him down. "Are you all alone here?"

"I am Groot," Groot answered sadly. 

"You seem all alone." Groot nodded, missing the excited faces of the other aliens. "Well in that case, come with us! We can help you!" Groot perked up, yes! Help, go with them, they are alive and growing, protect them! They will help. There is nothing left here anymore. Tthey stood slowly, following the human and his friends to their ship. "We'll take you to our base first, from there we can send out word throughout the galaxy, see if there are any other Groot's who managed to get away." Groot eagerly stepped aboard. They looked down at the human, smiling. He wore a white coat, words were woven into the breast. Groot leaned forward, trying to remember when the arbor masters taught them human languages. Slowly, as the ship's doors closed, he could just make them out, though they did not understand the meaning:

Jack Asen- Botanist   
Halfworld Bioengineering and Biological Weapons Facility   
A Division of Stark Industries


	5. Chapter 5

It did not take the Wood God long to figure out the human and his alien friends were not going to help them. From the moment they boarded the ship and the human man had his alien guards fix a metal collar around Groot's throat, the Flora colossus got the suspicion. They began to doubt even as they held out their arms and the same aliens fixed the same hard biting, but smaller, collar like devices around their wrists and escorted them into a small windowless, white room. 

"You just rest buddy, we'll be at Halfworld before you know it." The human's words dripped with suspicion. Take root, find something green, something growing and of the earth. But there was nothing. Groot sat, knees tucked to their chest as the man walked away and they were left alone. Hard surfaces, not made of soil. Impenetrable, unnatural. Sleek. Smells of human and alien but not of air or freshness. Smells of clean chemicals. Burning, a different burning then the fires. Groot tried to grow their roots down into the floor, but to no avail. Grunting in frustration, they settled on growing their roots outward, around the room, if only to wrap around the bars. Hold tight, support. Support, take comfort. Cling, even if it's to something unknown. Better than nothing. They pressed their head against the bars, eyes darting this way and that but could only see the hallway, extending on either side. No windows no air. In their disorientation and rising panic Groot slumped back against the wall. Thirsty, their roots and branches ached, thirsty. When did we have water last? Groot's do not necessarily think of themselves as an individual rather as part of a living organism, a small part of an entire forest, a community and so Groot's thoughts were of the collective "we," rather than the singular, "I." Thought Groot did know that there were no other Flora colossus around and that they were totally alone in this foreign ship, this confined cell. Water, water. But there was not even a drip of moisture to be felt in the air. 

"I am Groot!" Groot tried, an immeasurable time later when the human man returned. This time he was accompanied by a woman and another large alien. 

"Is that the only thing it can say?"

"We believe so," the man answered. "We'll have to run some tests once we arrive." The woman nodded, looking at Groot with admiration and fear. Groot frowned, not going to hurt you, just want water. What is the human word for when you want to ask for something, specific, politely? They tried to remember the teachings of the arbor masters. 

"Well if this one proves viable you might indeed they that promotion Jack." 

"I hope so. Now that Planet X has been destroyed we won't even have to worry about them trying to come after us and get revenge." Revenge, Groot bristled. They knew that word. Revenge…. revenge for what the arbor masters did. For taking their people. This is their revenge. 

"I am Groot!" Groot tried to explain that they agreed it was wrong, that they had realized this and had saved a little girl. A little girl named Hannah with skin the color of the earth. That they were sorry for everything the Groot's did. 

"Hey shut it suddenly Seymour," sharp. Burning, bark splitting. Electric pain zapped up Groot's arm as the man retracted his long, pointed stick thing. It fizzled blue and white electricity from the end and made the Wood Good back away, back into their corner. 

"Jack," the woman swatted him. "Don't hurt it. It needs to be in top condition for processing." Water….p…pleees. Plls. Water, Groot's limbs felt heavy, their head lolled forward, resting on their knees. In their vines they could feel themselves flaking, grip loosening on the bars. As the scientists walked away, they tried again.

"I am Groot," water please…

"Yeah and I'm Captain America." The man's voice gloated as their laughs echoed down the corridor. Groot rested their head on their knees, allowing their veins to crack and drop. They tried again to reach down into any sort of cracks in the floor but there were none. None at all. They want their revenge; can we blame them? No. Can't blame them. Water, parched, must drink, plese. With that, Groot fell into unconsciousness once more. Their body moving the scarce nutrients within them lethargically as the ship sailed ever closer. Six jumps left to Halfworld. 

\---

"I am Groot!" Shocking pain, seering, snapping, heat. Heat! SNNAP! Groot startled as an alien guard prodded them in the side with the electric stick. 

"Get up!" They slowly moved, watching the door to their cell open and crashed to the hard floor as agony exploded up their wrists from the cuffs. "Slowly!" As Groot stood, the vines they had grown sloughed off. Breaking upon the floor. They let out a soft whine, losing a part of themselves. Groot stepped gently as more guards surrounded them, each with the same prods. They shuffled down the hall, finally seeing the scientist man and woman. 

"I am Groot," Groot tried to ask. 

"Their ready, take it in." The man spoke to the leady guard. A rush of air hit the Wood God as the ramp of the ship opened. Sky! Oxygen! Light! Fresh air! Flowers, trees, plants, things that grow! Yes! Take root! Take….Groot stumbled forward, shoved roughly by one of the prods though this time it did not shock him. They walked, feeling their feet touch the soil once more. Yes! They could take root, they could feel the sun filling their leaves with rich, precious nutrients, they could….another shock, this one rougher and in the small of their back. They fell forward, and felt similar clean, metal beneath them. Doors, large doors before them. An immense white and silver building. 

"I am Groot!!"

"So this is the Flora Colossus?" Another strange human man stood before them, speaking with the man and woman who had been aboard the ship. 

"Yes. Picked it up on Planet X after the desolation." 

"Well, we've never had a Groot. You know Stark's been demanding more deliverables these days. A Groot could do wonders for our medical science division, not to mention biological weaponry." Groot tried to grow thorns from their body as they were shoved forward once more, under the imposing awning of the building, cut off from the sunlight. Into the fake world. 

"That was exactly my thought sir." The other man looked over Groot, his small eyes, the top of his head was shiny, clean and pink. 

"I am Groot!" Groot growled, only to whimper as their leg pulsed with more electric pain. 

"Take it to the cells, maximum security. We'll process it tomorrow once all your paper work is filed."

"Maximum sir?" Groot listened, worried as they were forced across the threshold into the strange building with the stale air. No windows. Chemicals, cleaners. Humans, aliens…sorrow? Violence? 

I'm not taking any chances with this one." The bald man gestured to Groot. "They may sound dumb, only being able to say 'I am Groot,' but trust me Asen these creatures have been around since the dawn of time for a reason. We'll have to be extra cautions with it. This could be the crown jewel of Stark Industries." 

"Very well sir." The other man gestured to the guards on Groot's either side and they were led down one of the hallways. So bright, not sunlight. Blinding. Through the corridors and wards they led them, zapping them if ever they tried to linger or see what was behind a window or a door. The human man stopped at various points to scan things before a door opened. Down, down deeper they forced him, twisting and turning into the building-which was actually a series of buildings-until they came to a platform that led them down, down below the planet's surface, but not into the earth. Finally the human man scanned a code and a narrow, dark door opened to a narrow, dark hall, dimly lit with rows, upon rows of bars on either side. Sickness, death, decay, rot, sorrow, sorrow. Terror, pain, so, so much pain. Hopelessness. Groot struggled against their restraints, howling at the pain as the collar around their throat shocked them. 

"Get in there," one of the guards demanded and Groot collapsed with exhaustion into the cell. 

"I am Groot!" They shouted as the guards and the human left. Please, yes, we understand you want revenge, we are sorry! We did no harm! We tried to help! Please, let us explain! But the heavy door shut and the feeling of wet, soggy sadness and relentless pain surrounded them. Groot looked around, seeing poorly through the light. Through the bars of one wall lay another creature, this one trying to heal itself. Something had been done to the shell that covered its body. On the other side, Groot could make out the outline of a furry creature curled in a ball. 

"I am Groot?" They tried. The creature poked it's head up, looked around and then looked at them. Eyes wide with fear and surprise. Finally, in a small voice it spoke, 

"I….I am Lylla."


	6. Chapter 6

Groot watched in wonder as the small furry animal stood on shaking feet. She smelled of hurt, of dull throbbing, of sweetness and sorrow, of sweat. She padded her way closer, limping and held on to the bars for support, her small brown fingers curling. Groot reached out a finger which she followed with her eyes and let out a tiny gasp as it brushed her knuckles. 

"I am Groot," we won't hurt you. She smiled softly,

"No, I don't think you would. You are a Wood God," she dipped her head in a way that Groot recognized as a sign of respect. Did she recognize them? She could help. Help. We could help her too. Yes, get away, away from this pain. 

"I am Groot," they prompted, leaning closer. Her eyes were a deep rich brown that managed to shimmer even in the darkness. In spite of the darkness. 

"Of course I know you are a Wood Good. I know all about the Groot's, their whisdom. They way they protected all things that grow." She swallowed, looking away for a moment and then back to them, in a small voice. "….I was coniditioned to know many things about many species throughout the galaxy. It is what I was made for." Groot frowned, she shivered, the skin on her chest shaven and scared. Groot reached through the narrow bars, touching the top of her head. Fur, soft, flesh, rough. Smooth in some places and riddled in others. Metal here and there, cold. Foreign. Lylla brushed the finger off gently. "You just arrived, haven't you?" The Flora colossus nodded. Pity. "Well, I don't know what they will do to you but I was programmed to know history, linguistics, and advanced technological and computer systems. Others were created for other reasons." She gestured across Groot's cage to the creature with the shell. "We call her Ta, she is being outfitted for advance evolution, capable of changing the DNA of other organisms just by biting them with her implanted fangs." Groot looked at the creature, soreness, loss of appetite and yet still starving." "And that one across the way," Lylla gestured to another furry creature, this one with muddled brown grey and white fur, "he's being enhanced to know weapons." Thirsty, we are thirsty. Their branches reminded them. They looked back at Lylla, regretfully requesting water. It seemed selfish when she had so little herself.

"I am Groot?" They asked softly. Lylla nodded, scurrying awkwardly to the other side of her cage. The flora colossus cocked their head, "14E75" stood out on her right hip. Unatural, carved in with knives. Lylla didn't seem to notice it though as she reached through and unscrewed her water bottle from the outside, gripping it in her tiny mouth and tugging until it clanked through. She brought it over to Groot, wh held out their hands and grew vines. 

"Hold still," she tipped it, allowing the precious, precious water to drip down. Absorb, thrive, rush, cool, calming, water. Water. Grateful. Thanks, thank you Lylla. Friend. Kindness where there is no kindness. Water! They felt the liquid coolness spread throughout them as the water poured, filling them and healing their wounds. Groot sighed and did not even feel remorse when Lylla shook the last trickle from the bottle. 

"I am Groot!" She laughed, a sweet soft sound. 

"You're welcome Groot." She paused, then looked at them, "they want us to be mean and cruel like them. But I refuse. As long as you hold on to some goodness, as long as you still do good for those you can, they will not break you. They will not win." Groot did not totally understand what she meant but watched her put the water back. They thanked her again before they fell into a heavy slumber, the first good rest they'd had in days.

ZZZKKKK stitch in arm, distress, get out! Thorns jutted out from Groot's side in an instant response to the shock that stabbed them. 

"Get up you hunk of driftwood!" The human voice shouted, Groot was hauled to their feet, ducking from the cage and for a moment relished in how it felt to fully stand tall despite the cramp in their legs. Five guards, the same brutish red and golden colored aliens, escorted them down the hall, Lylla, where…? Groot looked over their shoulder but the little otter was not in her cage. Blood, urine, feces. They could smell it, feel it soaking and old on the floor. The guards punched in the code, leaving the maximum security ward and Groot hesitated to fight back against the guards with the shocking sticks. They took the strange contraption upward, then out through a series of rooms and corridors until Groot was led through another series of double doors. 

"This is it?" A different man, this one with glasses who held a data pad and looked upward, appraising Groot. 

"Yup. First day?" One of the guards asked. The man nodded, 

"Yup," and gestured for them to follow. No, bad, chemicals, too bright, too sleek, too clean, too unnatural. No, please…No! Groot screamed internally, inexplicable horror over coming them as they were pushed roughly through the double doors into a large room with strange monitors that beeped and giant lights overhead, all orchestrated around a large table. Groot grew vines from their arm and twisted away, making to leap backward. They felt the tingling sting of the electricity, the smell of scorched bark but willed themselves forward through it. Ignoring the shouts of the guards and the cursing of the scientist. No! NO! Get away, please, please we are sorry for taking your kind! We…the laceration cut Groot down, they clattered to the floor, a pang running through their back as they sprawled out, whimpering. 

"More sedative?"

"No, we need it as aware as possible." Groot tried to protest as they were dragged up and heaved on to the table, four guards on either of side. Get away, run, fight! They yelled at themselves even as the whir of the machines began. Groot struggled against the giant clamps what clicked around their wrists, neck, ankles and torso. They tried to grow more viens, to swat away at the guards but still weakness kept them from doing so. Lylla only had so much water left when she gave it to him. They watched the man pour over them, until at last he came to their head and spoke. 

"I never thought I'd work on a real Wood God." But he did not bow like Lylla. "But your regenerative properties will revolutionize medicine." The man held up a large burning hot rod, imprinted with symobls. "But first things first." Hot, steam, closer, closer, smoking, embers, hot Hot! Hot like the flames that burned the arbor master, in their mind Groot could see the other Flora colossus being consumed by the fire. They writhed, growing out several pointed vines and let out a wail as the brand stuck into their right hip. "01F82." Burned into their bark. Thus the torture began. Groot screamed, writhed, tried to fight as the man, and eventually five of his fellows came into the room. All speaking words that they couldn't fully undersand. Speaking in muffled voices through the masks they put over their faces. 

"It will regenerate no matter what?" Human female who held a vial asked.

"There's only one way to find out." Prick, cut, splice, pain, pain, throbbing, tug, pressure, hurt, get away, get away!! Laughter, 

"There are many ways." Thus the Wood God was plunged into bodily misery. They snapped off pieces of them, an arm, then the next day a leg. They gave him water at least but hardly enough. One day they burned them, the next day the male scientist with the glasses froze his remaining leg. When they were not on the table or in their cell Groot sat out in the courtyard, trying to soak up the weak rays of sun that shown through the mesh overhead. Lylla continued to sneak them water, continued to speak to them. 

"I do not know why we are here. I mean I have my theories but all I know is that we all have different specialties. They brand each of us with these codes and do different but equally aweful things to us." Lylla too was taken away by the scientists from time to time. Groot watched her, sometimes she fought, scratching at the long arm device that they put in her cage to grab her. Other days Groot watched her merely open a single eye and felt the anticipation and fear waft off of her as they silently too her away. Each time she returned with more scars, more black vine like patterns sown into her skin, more metal. 

"I am Groot," Groot whispered to her one night after their own ordeal. Their neck ached with the collar that they'd fitted to him. 

"It….it's alright, I'm alright. Do you need more water?" Yes, thirst. Must heal. No….she needs it more, in so much pain, she's trying to heal herself as well. They shook their head and drifted off into a dull thin semblance of rest. One withered vine snaking through the feeling Lylla's cool soft fur. They knew what awaited them in the morning. 

\---

"Ro! Ro! It's alright!" Horror, no don't, kill, kill! Panic. Groot opened their eyes to Lylla, frantically pressing herself against the bars of her cage, facing the three scientists that manhandled the brown and grey small furry creature across the narrow hall. The animal screeched in terror, chittering as the gloved hands and restraining clamp reached for it. "Ro! Listen to me! Don't fight them! They'll punish you if you do! They won't use anesthesia!" But Ro, as Groot assumed the frantic animal was named, only chittered and ran it's claws into one of the human's shoulders only to be slammed against the bars of it's own cage. Fight, flight, fight flight! FIGHT! Can't go back there again! Sweat, blood, urine, fear. Urine, blood. Electricity. Groot watched as they wrangled Ro to the ground. "Ro, look at me, it's okay. I'll be here when you come to. Shhh, don't fight, just breathe. Breathe Ro." Lylla tried her best to calm the animal. But it's fear did not leave Groot until they carried it away. Groot swallowed their sympathy. So much hurt, so much sickness. Pain, fear. Helplessness. Don't give in. Rest, rest for when they come. And they did come, awhile later with their nets and their prods. Groot held out as long as he could under their scalpels, please, we are sorry, don't cause any more pain. Pain, shock, bark splintering, removing pieces. Cannot heal. Cannot heal.


	7. Chapter 7

"Do you see that?" Exposure, fake air brushing across vulnerable tissue, bark torn up, revealing what's below. Revealing what's below. Groot lay on the table, strapped down, held securely by biting metal that twisted into their bark. 

"Yes," another scientist answered, the woman. "It appears to have cambium tissue, xylem, flowem but another strain as well. Pressure, cold pressure, extending from where she prodded at Groot's exposed arm to the rest of their body. They tried to move but winced against the restraints. They couldn't even turn their head to see, the nails around their neck constantly threatening to pierce them. 

"Yes, that could be it. Do you think so?" Excited, breakthrough. The woman in the mask leaned closer, she had blonde hair beneath her blue scrub cap. So soft….so tender…we could crush them. Crush them. Get away. Groot imagined it, trying to summon their strength. 

"I think it must…. fuck it's moving again." The woman shot Groot with that now familiar pinching. No anesthesia though, they couldn't risk that. "I think it must be. Let's get a sample, take it to bio." Groot could see the scalpel come down, anticipated the pain. They forced themselves upward, summoning all that rage, all that pain and sorrow. 

"I….AM…GROOT!!" He thundered, channeling the agony of the shattering metal into strength. Uproot, push through, break the bonds! 

"What is it?! GUARDS!"

"I told you we should've sedated it!" Groot heaved upward and smiled in triumph despite the terrible, bark breaking aching as the restraints shattered, metal splintered. They were released! Groot stood up, swiping away the tables with those painful instruments as they crashed all around them. Get to the door! The door, run! Get out! Freedom. They lunged forward, back arching but not enough to avoid the blinding overhead lights. They crashed down around them as they made for the exit, trying to reach out with spindly vines. They gripped the handles, flinging the door open. Run! Be free. Lylla. The others. Get free! Run! Outside, the sun calls, the air. Run, freedom! Groot charged down the hallway, rushing at the army of guards that had been summoned by the blaring alarm. They swung from side to side, vines whipping out in all directions as they trailed several computers behind them, yanking painfully at their joints. They ran forward, turned a corner, grimacing at the bullets that hit them. 

 

"I am Groot!" Air, sunlight, they could see it as they rounded another corner. Through the thin sliver of windows above, the golden gleaming rays shown down onto the rotunda where they had first brought them. Groot pushed through the guards who shot at him, carefully trying to avoid the guns mounted in the ceiling. Freedom! So close, just beyond the door, go! GO! Groot reached out as much as they could, one lone vine wrapping around the handle to the door and swung it open. Fresh real air! Sunlight! Their branches sang at the rush of oxygen, at the shining sun. They ran forward, smiling and…."AAAARRRGGGHHH!!" Fiery agony rained down on them, the single vine sliced in two. A metal net crashed down from above, so heavy it knocked them down. No! They swayed, trying to disentangle themselves and watched as a group of scientists panted and shoved the doors closed. Bright white lights, stale air, the tease of sunlight. Groot wailed as they came towards them with a large syringe. Freedom….please…I'm sorry…darkness, darkness. Can't heal, won't heal. Death. Forever dormant, pain, chemicals. Groot fell into a drug-induced state, shadows playing across their muddled vision as the guards dragged them back to their cell. They could not even wince as the male scientist cut a sliver of their deep tissue right there in the hall. The guards threw them back into their cell and Groot only watched, feeling slightly the tug of the metal chains they secured around their torso and arms. No longer just shackles but a full Asgardian stele chains wrapping around them. Heavy, so heavy, cold, tainting the wood, not natural, cold filling me. 

"I'd like to see it get free from those chains!" SSSSTT, hard pain across the temple, white pain whipped Groot's head to the side as the guard hit them across the face with their metal rods. Their laughter echoed as they walked away and the metal door clanked shut. 

\--- 

"Lylla!" A muffled male voice called. It barely registered to Groot who felt nothing but the swelling cold, patched and dried roots. Darkness, so thirsty, please, anyone, anyone… "Lylla they'll catch you!" Ro eagerly cried. "You can't keep doing this. I know yah care about him but what if they see you?!" Twisting, wrenching pain, so dry, dry, moisture….water…water…water! Lylla tipped the rest of her water through the bars. 

"It's dying Ro. We can't let a Wood God die." 

"You're gonna die," Ro whispered. "If they catch you helping it, they will kill you!" Water, water, soothing, clean. Groot was woken from their state slowly as Lylla did her best to water him. 

"I….I am Groot…" they tried, throat cracking. Lylla put the bottle down, stumbling forward but caught herself.

"Shhh, don't try to speak." Groot looked down, chains. Panic! Get free! They tried to wrangle themselves free, but exhaustion ate at them. They let out their palm, trying to grow vines, they watched it sprout a yellow color, withering and turning brown, crumbling. He whimpered, settling back against the wall. "There's no more water, I am sorry," Lylla said softly. 

"I am Groot…." This close, this close to freedom. Lylla only nodded,  
"I've tried to escape this place so many times," she breathed sitting down. Groot watched the newest series of poorly healing scars ripple crack and bleed as she moved. 

"I am Groot," Groot said sadly.

"I'll be alright," she shrugged off. Exhaustion, bones aching, fur burnt, skin rent and split. Innards distended. And yet…..hope. Hope. 

"I am Groot?" Lylla smiled, but whipped around and Groot and Ro followed her gaze as the door was thrown open and two guards stormed in. Armed with their restraints and shock sticks, and this time a new device. A collar with metal fangs. Groot squirmed uselessly as they charged forward. 

"It was the otter right?" 

"Yup, that one," a gloved hand jabbed a finger at Lylla who instantly tried to back away. 

"I am Groot!" Groot lurched forward as they opened her cage and grabbed for her. 

"You the one watering the plant you little rodent?" Lylla bared her small but sharp teeth at the metal device reached for her. She yelped as it caught around her left back leg as she attempted to scuttle around. They slammed her again the floor, bones breaking, brain battered. Twitch, pain, Groot watched, twisting and turning in their chains as Lylla was beaten. "You rat! The tree doesn't get watered unless we say it gets watered!" They lifted the small otter up and slammed her down again as she tried to claw at them. The metal trap now clamping down tighter around her leg. Sssccchhht Groot winced as Lylla's right leg snapped. She let out a high-pitched scream, echoed only by laughter. Something else too, urine, anger, distraction, fury. Desperate. Groot turned in the direction of the smell just in time,

"That rat is pissing on me!" The guards turned to where Ro stood, indeed peeing on the guards between the bars. Bracing, bracing for what is coming, getting ready for the hot agony of… Ro screamed as the guards manhandled the small rodent out of his cage and shot him with the prongs. 

"Careful of it's skull," one of the guards cautioned as his fellow threw the vermin down on the stone floor and pressed it's boot into the creature's head. "We'll have to take it back to neuro again." Groot watched, unable to tear himself away from the horror. Look away, away, but they were paralyzed. Finally, they scooped Ro's limp body off the floor and flung it back into its cage. Groot waited for them to leave before trying to move again. They cried looking at where Lylla tried to breathe. She is hurt because of you, she helped you. They hurt her. Protect, protect. Comfort, that drive to provide for and defend living things swelled within them. Groot concentrated hard, watching as a purple flower bloomed from their hand. They snuck it between the bars, lying the flower beside Lylla and sank back into tears, debilitated from the effort. 

Lylla only cracked one eye open and then closed it again, holding the flower. Groot listened to Ro across the hall, whimpering. The next day when the scientists came for them, the Flora colossus did not put up a fight.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's god dead people.

Groot's do not perceive time in a linear fashion. Rather time, like the roots of a tree branches out and onward and loops back and intersects, onward and outward for eternity. Up and down, time was simultaneous, instantaneous, cyclical and never-ending. They did not know where one procedure stopped, and another test began. They could not distinguish the biopsies from the oscopies from the slicing and splitting. The flaming pain and the cold chill. Groot lay on the table, eyes closed against the light that were so bright but provided no energy. Metal, too clean, sterile. Sterile. Cannot regrow, cannot repair. Cannot heal. When they were not cutting into them or carving them up, wrenching them in two or stretching them out, Groot sat in their cell, for they'd long since forgot about letting them sit in the courtyard. The only light they got was from the specialized panel on the side of their narrow cell. Groot sat, in their chains, trying to nurse the pain, to summon any strength. To heal, and watched Lylla. They continued to take her out and she continued to grow worse. 

"I am Groot?" They asked while Lylla was away.

"I hope so," Ro mumbled from across the way. "She and I came in at the same time. The same 'batch' they call it." Groot turned their head painfully to where Ro sat in his own cell, looking at Lylla's empty cage. "She was the first to be 'uplifted,' the first to speak." He explained, staring straight ahead. "Most of us keep to ourselves, just trying to make it through another day…but Lylla, she went outta her way to talk with us. To comfort us." Groot's innards turned, or at least they would have if they had them. "The flarking bastard before you, some miserable rat thing, Lylla took care of her too. But she died under the knife. We all do sooner or later." Hopelessness. Dread and acceptance. 

"I am Groot," must have hope. Almost escaped. Escape again. There is always goodness, always a reason to grow, grow grow. Onward, upward. Through the agony. Ro looked up, his feverish red eyes narrowing. The flora colossus watched it in the flickering dim light of the florescents in the hall. So much anger, so much hurt. "I am Groot," they said, hoping it was true. Ro only blinked and eventually shrugged. 

"We named each other," he finally said. "Decided we wanted actual names instead of these numbers, once we knew what names were. I named her Lylla, like the flowers they put in our cages for some 'neurological calming stimulant' or whatever." Groot listened, enamored and fascinated. This was the longest they had heard Ro speak without cursing, or crying, or hissing. "She….she decided on Ro. It's supposed to be after some weapon," he shrugged. "Though she said she couldn't remember the rest of it. They didn't finish uploading that terminology to her." He spat through the bars. "Uploading, like were machines. She kept trying to remember the rest of it, but Ro is fine." Groot smiled, but it quickly died as the door swung open. Four scientists, including the soft one with the black hair who leaned over Groot and cut into them. Groot tried to grow vines, failed and only stiffened in his binds. 

"You can dump it in, it'll be a miracle if it lives." Groot winced as Lylla landed with a thud. So weak, so hurt. 

 

"Total loss of an investment if you ask me." Another one of them said as they locked the cage and left once more. Silence fell, Groot leaned forward, through the metal. Help her, comfort, protect. But the chains would not relent. They came for Groot again and again they tried to resist, but no avail. Scalpel, cut, sap leaking out between the cracks, shock. Pain, Draining, draining substances out of them. The slice of the knives, the biting hot carving tools, scratch, scratch. They did not know how long the scientists worked on him. Every time they tried to give in to the pain of it they shocked them. Jolting them awake. Then they dragged them to their feet, they fell, their own weight too much. Cold, flat floor, hands, gloved hands grabbing pulling them up, laying them down on another table. Rolling, moving, lights above. 

"We may have over-done it this time,"

"Yeah well, Stark wants results. If anything we should be doing more."

"What if we kill it?"

"Can Wood God's even be killed?"

"Well if it hasn't expired by now it never will." 

"We should be draining it's sap again in a few days. See if that has any effect on it's regenerative abilities." They rolled Groot down to the maximum-security ward, through the doors and dumped them in their cell, securing the chains once more. Through the haze of fatigue and throbbing, deep in their roots they longed to secure themselves into the earth, to soak up something other than the odd fowl smelling chemicals. Hurt, hurt…fading….no…not m…me. Groot forced their eyes open, feeling the draining of life from something close by. LYLLA! They grew three vines out, pushing through the exhaustion. Reaching out to her through the bars and leaning forward as far as they could. She lay on her side, facing outward towards the hall, eyes blinking slowly, deflated, scared and twisted skin raising, shuttering, falling. Fading, too much, too much hurt, too much pain. No! Protect!

"What's happening?" Ro demanded, standing up and gripping the bars.

"I…I am Groot…" Groot murmured, one vine reaching through and caressing the otter's coarse fur. 

"No!" The creature whimpered. "Groot right? Grow one of those vines out, help me pick this lock." Groot looked at the boxed mechanism on the cell, identical to their own. They found Lylla giving me water….they'll find me picking the lock….they'll come. "Please!" Ro begged, straining to look at Lylla. "Please, I gotta see her…." The creature's voice broke. "I gotta see her…" Love, kindness, risk. Help….help. Groot obeyed, reaching a vine out and slowly snaking it through the lock per Ro's instruction. Click, it swung open and Ro scrambled down, scampering across the hall and going up the cages and picking the lock to Lylla's cell. Ro looked over the small trembling otter. His face contorted in concern and sorrow, he sat down, putting his small arms around her. Comfort, love, warmth, protect. Groot grew more of their vines out, enveloping the two wounded creatures. 

"Lylla," Ro whispered, leaning down gently nuzzling her. "C'mon Lylla you can't give up. Don't let them break you remember?" Groot's do not have anatomy but if they did his heart would have broken. Love, there is still love. Still goodness, even here. Light. Ro round himself around her and Groot watched as she struggled, they grew another flower, placing it beside her. Ro held her there, "C'mon Lylla you're my only friend, the only one keeping me alive in here….please you can't give up," clear sap ran down from the anima's eyes. Groot too felt themselves pour out sadness, growing dark green leaves around them, a small nest. Though it drained them, they could feel the tiredness, the longing. Ro held her there, gently rocking her. Comfort, protect, happiness. Sorrow but also joy. Companionship. Going….going…fear…peace…content…Ro's soft cries echoed as Groot continued to grow the protective cocoon around them, the first time since Planet X burned. They felt Lylla's soft breath grow more distant, no fear, only peace, happiness. 

"I am Groot," Groot whispered, shaking with the effort. Happiness. For the first time, true joy. Going….going…gone. Ro sniffed, holding her. Groot watched him for a long time and slowly, after what was a tiny eternity, reached another vine, touching Ro's shoulder gently. The creature's fur bristled, snarling protectively over Lylla. "I am Groot," Groot said, retracting their vine on impulse. 

"No, she can't be gone…" Ro looked down at the small otter. "She…she can't be…" Groot felt his limbs grow heavy, slowly the leaves around the two of them shriveled. So tired…cannot grow. Ro wiped an arm across his snout. "I don't wanna leave her," he whined. Groot watched as he tore himself away, gently laying Lylla down. They slipped out of the cage, back across the hall and back into his cage. 

"Thanks you," Groot heard Ro whisper miserably as the flora colossus quickly readjusted the lock back to its original position. Love, hate, pain, light extinguished. Couldn't protect….couldn't save….they peered over at the creature across the hall who had curled around himself, looking at Lylla. Maybe…I could still protect…. that one…hope


	9. Chapter 9

Groot watched them take Lylla away. Ro wasn't there, but the muttering and complaining of the scientists roused the Wood God from his delirium 

"Told you it was a waste of an investment," disgust, sadness. Not at the loss of the otter but at the loss of profit. 

"Well, take it to necro, they'll want to do an autopsy." Loss, absence, Lylla in all her goodness. Gone, Groot moaned with combined pain and sadness as they watched the humans take her body and unceremoniously dump her on to the cart, the flower the Wood God had given her fell from her tiny hand to the ground. Not fair, that such life should be extinguished by cruelty. Yes there is death, that is part of the great cycle, but it is not an end. Yes all things have their time but this was not Lylla's time to die. She'd never even lived. This caged, cruel existence was not a life. How can they do this? 

"You know this means psych is going to want to test them for their compassion retention." The scientist with the red hair complained. His fellow grunted,  
"I thought they'd already done that."

"Apparently not." The door clanked shut and Groot try to lay back down on their side, twitching in the chains. Thirsty….so thirsty….

\--- 

"Yo, Groot!" Ro's weak but earnest voice rose the flora colossus from his delirium. They could barely see through haze of aching pain in every one of their branches. "Look, we don't got much time but I gotta warn you," the animal huffed for breath. Groot watched sadly as the animal came into focus, so too did his new metal implants below the collar bones.

"I…I am Groot…" Groot whispered, throat cracking. 

"They're going to test me, soon…" Ro whispered urgently. "You know what they means don't you?" Groot shook their head, nowhere to root into. Hard plastic, nothing green. No earth, no nutrients. "I overheard em' while they were working on me….they're gonna make me hurt you." Groot picked their head up off their knees, blinking. 

"I am Groot?"

"I don't want to hurt you," Ro clarified sharply. "But they…they got ways of makin' us do things…." his thin voice drifted off. Groot could only nod. What sort of hurt? So many kinds of pain. Scalpels, fire, ice, darkness, dehydration, starvation. Twisting, breaking. Far from the earth, from fresh air. Groot tried to respond, but the burning agony of the chemicals they'd injected into them coursed through their tissue and they drifted off into a drug-induced state.

\--- 

Groot tried to fight against the guards when they came. The Flora colossus wriggled in their chains and managed to extend their arm out, 

"I am Groot!" Groot cried, closing their hand around one of the bulky guards and threw him against the iron cages. The Wood God grined with a satisfied smile, as the alien fumbled and crashed down against the grating, holding their arm and growling as his joint popped. Groot screamed as the shocking pain of the staff stuck into his side and sent violent crackling currents upward throughout their body. They tugged the flora colossus forward, down the hall, up, around the corner, past the labs with the screaming creatures, past the supervised recovery ward. Up another few floors and out…into the rotunda. Sunlight, just out there…so close…their vines longed to grow out and forward towards the light. 

"C'mon you," one of the guards shoved them forward through another set of double doors. Large room, room near the…near the door. So close...smells, smells of chemicals. The cold floor, the large white lights…sterile. Sterile. A window of scientists watching from a window above. Groot tried to extend their arms once more but the guards wrestled them against the wall. Clamping their wrists, foot and torso against the far wall. Smooth, too smooth and flat and biting against bark. 

"We're ready when you are Traden," Groot heard one of the scientists announced. Groot watched, eyes turning to the far-right corner of the all-white and silver room. It slide open, a breeze of that strange air. Piter padder, pitter padder. Ro. Ro with two large guns. Guns. The arbor masters educated them about guns. Strange weapons made to destroy. To kill. Red eyes looking downward, face drawn. 

"I am Groot!" Groot tried to call, smiling. A familiar face! 

"Subject, fire!" A loud voice from the scientists ordered. Their voice emanating all around. Groot watched the animal creature stand across from him, it's body trembled but it did not move. 

"Now, subject." The omnipresent voice shouted. Ro only bared his teeth but didn't move. "Last warning subject!" Last warning for what? Tension, conflict. Knowing there will be pain, knowing what will come. No. NO. Will not be controlled. 

"AAAAHHHKK," Ro screamed, back arching as Groot wittnessed the implants in his collar bones light up, shocking him. Burnt hair. A pause. 

"Subject! Shoot it! That is a command!" Groot waited, "I don't want to hurt you…" they remembered. Ro cried out again at the fizzling sound of the electric shock,

"I am Groot!" Groot shouted watching the animal fall forward, shaking on their hands and knees. 

"Subject, shoot!" The scientists ordered.

"I am Groot!" The Wood God yelled, looking up at those scientists. So smug, so powerful, so abusive. They did not care or protect for the being under their charge. They pushed and pulled and killed. Ro got to his feet, small tears coming from his eyes. Groot's proverbial stomach twisted as Ro was shocked two more times. Pain to the body is terrible….but not as terrible as hurting those you've grown to care about. It didn't matter what happened, the apathy came off of Ro as stark as the curls of smoke and chars of his bar flesh. Let them kill me then. Groot trembled, no! Must protect! Must get away, get free…free…freedom not far, not far from this room. The door…Groot glanced at the lights above the double doors. Just out there…freedom. Not far, could make it this time. They turned to Ro who shook and spat and clentched their fists, eyes closed in pain. 

"I am Groot!" Groot explained, hurriedly. "I am Groot!" Ro looked up, eyes feverish. 

"Subject! Last time, shoot!" Ro's eyes found Groot's, he understood. Slowly Ro reached for his gun, took aim. Groot rapidly sprouted harder wood over their body. They smiled as Ro shot, the blast hitting true as their right wrist shackle came undone, Groot grimaced through the short burn against their arm. Thrice more Ro shot, Bang! Heat, release, freedom. Bang! Heat, release, freedom! Bang! Groot stepped forward, thorns sprouting from their back and shoulders.

"Subject! Get back to your quarters now! Guards!" Groot didn't wait for the alarms to sound, they stood, facing the window. Rage, anger. You killed, you did harm. You do not protect, you betray life, modifying it, twisting it. No more. No longer. 

"I AM GROOOOT!!" Groot roared, all the righteoush anger of their people behind them. Roaring like the thunder shakes the sky, as the earth breaks. The windows cracked, then shattered. The scientist screamed and Groot bolted forward towards the double doors as the bullets reigned down from the mounted guns in the ceiling. They ran, forward to freedom, go. Ignore the pain, go! Don't look back…go!" They extended their arms out, breaking through the door, only flinching at the impact and out into the main rotunda. 

"What are you doing?!" Ro's familiar brash voice echoed in Groot's ear. They hefted the weight and turned their head slightly, the animal had perched on their shoulder, little claws gripping into the bark. But Groot didn't mind, it was a welcome feeling, much more welcome than the biting of bullets.


	10. Chapter 10

"Alert, alert, alert," red lights flashing, gunfire, shouting. Groot ran forward through it all, willing themselves through the over simulation of the army of guards that charged them. 

"The door!" Ro shouted, gesturing ahead. Groot came to a grinding halt before the guards who stood before the door, their weapons aimed. 

"Subjects, put your hands above your heads!" Fur bristling. No, charge through. Grow! Freedom! Sunshine! The memories of it propelled the Flora colossus forward even as their bark broke. They grew out their arms, swiping away the guards, 

"I am Groot!" They shouted, throwing the doors open and charging forward. Light! Air! They drank it in, how long had it been? Groot didn't know, but according to the terran calendar it had been six and half years. They threw up their right arm, shielding themselves and Ro from a blaster that hit against their side. 

"Flark!" Ro cursed as Groot fell to the ground only this time, they did not wince in pain. This time the roots in their feet and throughout their right side grew into the soil, drinking up the nutrients buried there. Health! Vitality, sunlight, sunlight! The pain didn't matter, the sounds of the sirens didn't matter, all Groot wanted to do was stand in the midst of it all and soak up the rays of the radiant sun."Groot! C'mon! To one of the maintenance vehicals, let's go!" Ro urged, already back on their shoulder. Groot stood, looking around over the heads of the guards and past the sky of security droids. 

"Subjects, put our hands above your heads or we open fire!" 

"Go!" Ro roared in their ear, over the sound of the warning shot. The air vibrated and for a moment Groot was stunned in panic. Not free yet, go, get off this planet! Groot went forward, hunkering down and shielding the top of their head from the reign of bullets. They felt Ro teeter and curse, felt strange red sap dripping down their side but it was not from them. "Hurry!" The creature called, strange humans in strange suits surrounded them, but they persisted through.  
Just a few lengths from the maintenance ships now, so close Groot could see the different number designations. 

"I am Groot?"

"It doesn't matter which one just go!" Ro screamed. Groot nodded, moving forward and then came to a grinding halt. An armored security guard with one huge weapon on his shoulder aimed it at Groot's chest. 

"Hands by your side, subject! On your knees!" The gunships from above ceased their blaring fires and for a moment Groot tried to look behind the mask that the human wore. They are still people, they are still living things. Capable of compassion. Capable of mercy. They wanted to believe, wanted to believe it so badly. But Halfworld had taught Groot nothing but misery, agony, thirst and cruelty. They'd seen none of the innocence they saw in Hannah's eyes. They hardly ever saw the eyes of the scientist or the guards at all. Always those masks, hiding their faces. Hiding their eyes. Is it on purpose? 

"I am Groot," step aside. We just want to be free. Please, just let us go. The human clicked it's gun. Ro was yelling at them but Groot hardly heard, a black visceral thought churning in their bark. I have to kill them. No, no…cannot kill. Cannot harm. If we harm the human we are no better than them. Groots were sworn to protect all living things. No exceptions. To preserve and look after those creatures who were alive and from the planets of Terra, X and Vidan before it was destroyed. To kill would be the most unforgivable act. It betrays life. But we must get free and what have these humans done for life but twist it and smother it out? Lylla. 

"One last warning subject!"

"I am Groot!" Let us pass! Please, you've done your experiments. Let us go! 

"One…."

"Groot what are you doing?!" Ro screeched in panic. 

"Two…." Groot looked the human in the eyes, through the mask, pleading. 

"Thr…" vines sprang out from the wood god's arm as they extended it, growing thorns and wrapping around the human. Panic, fear. Groot squeezed, red sap splattering them. 

"Woah!" The enhanced animal at their shoulder watched in mesmerized awe. The human screamed as Groot through them aside, dashing them on the ground. The gun fell. Looking away, Groot went ahead, towards the ships, barely noticing that Ro had scurried down, looked at the discarded weapon and smirked. Bang! Bang Bang! They turned, hearing the sound, feeling the air vibrate but felt no pain. Ro held the weapon in both small hands, laughing and screaming as they fired it off, shooting at the guards and the ships alike. His face snarling, eyes gleaming in the spark of the gun. Groot frowned, …what creature gets such pleasure from killing? Answer: one that's been made to kill. The rounds spent, Ro cursed and tossed the weapon aside. 

Groot ran for the nearest maintenance ship. Not big vessels, and not meant for prolonged space travel, but it was the only option. They ran for it, letting the bullets from the ships above graze their bark. Feeling the soil under them and the clean air all around. So nice, so nice to be outside. To be…Lylla! She'd never be outside. She never got to feel the ground or the sun or see the green growing things! 

"I am Groot!" Groot stopped before the ship. 

"What?!" Ro was on the ground now, running on all fours. 

"I am Groot!" They watched the animal's expression change from irritation, to remorse and then back.

"We can't get Lylla!" Ro managed with difficulty. "She's already back in one of the buildings, we'll be dead before we can get to her!" 

"I am Groot!" She would do the same for us. 

"I know she would!" Ro panted, "….but she'd also want us to be free and get out alive!" He dodged the blast from another guard's gun and tugged on Groot's leg. "She'd want us to be free Groot! Please, trust me!" Sorrow, love, regret, pain. Truth. Truth. With a longing look at the buildings Groot turned and ran forward, up into the ship. Outside echoes of fire blasted away. Ro ran ahead, into the cockpit area and scrambled up on to the control module, running their eyes over the buttons and levers. BAM! The ship rocked, and Groot grew more vines, holding on. 

"These ships aren't meant to break atmo!" Ro hollered over the sound of another blast. "We need something to propel us up!" They hit the blinking buttons, growling with frustration before Groot saw him grin. Out the window, they watched as a dolly full of basic Thacean rockets began to move, the weapons detaching themselves via the controls that Ro punched and began to attach themselves to the ships. With a Click, they latched. BAM!! SSSCCCKK One of the cannons, fired from the security ships cracked the windows. Ro cursed, 

"I hope this works," he punched a large green button and Groot held on as tight as they could with their vines whilst the ship took off with emmence pressure, over the heads of the guards, bombarding past the firing ships. Up, up and away. Away from the ground, from the earth but away from that place as well. Away from pain, from torture. Blasting off, through the sky, into space, into the beyond. The rockets propelled them forward. Rockets….rocket….ro..ro-cket…

"I am Groot!" Groot suddenly realized, looking at where Ro's critical gaze looked at the sky. 

"Yeah, what about em'?"

"I am Groot!" Groot explained, Lylla couldn't remember the entire word…something about a weapon. They never finished uploading that information. The word was rocket. 

"Rocket, huh?" The enhanced animal asked, a grin crossing his face. "You know, that doesn't sound too bad now that you mention it." He pushed the ship forward and Groot watched as blue atmosphere gaveway gradually to dark purple, then to black, mixed with stars. They turned back to look out the rear window. Halfworld was behind them. It was all behind them. They were free.


	11. Chapter 11

Freedom, they were free. Even over the loud omnipresent noise of the rocket's flare, Groot smiled, heart soaring with possibility. They'd watched out the window with apprehension, waiting for the guards and the ships to come after them. But they did not. As Halfworld grew smaller and smaller behind them, and the ever-expanding galaxy enveloped before them, Groot envisioned a rebirth. Rebirthed in starlight, not soil. They smiled, despite the unkowability of what lay ahead of them.

"We gotta land somewhere fast," Rocket's scratchy voice broke them from their thoughts. He poured over the control pad, eyes moving this way and that while his small claws hovered above each button. "Ahh," he winced, hand going to his side. Hurt. Red sap, tired. Hurt by the guards…by those guns..

"I am Groot?"

"I'll be fine. What do you know about this place?" Groot blinked, this place? This is the universe! It encompasses all! Rocket jumped down from the control panel, and fell with a crash to the metal floor, red sap seeping from his side. The wood god ghasped, reaching out and growing a vine to him, circling his arm. The enhanced animal yanked away, ears flipping flat against his skull, small sharp teeth bared. Groot's eyes widened at the display of fury and fear. Fight, flight, fight. Don't touch! Don't hurt! Get away! Touch is hurt. Groot stepped backward, snapping their vine away as Rocket's small claw sliced at it. Protectively the flora colossus shieled their face with a hard wooden arm, but their eyes remained concerned. 

"Don't touch me!" Rocket snarled, eyes slowly coming back into focus. "I'm fine! Now we gotta find some planet or rock or whatever to land on before these rockets give out." But where to go? Why would they want to leave this large, starry spectacle?! Groot looked back at the enhanced creature whose fur seemed more disheveled then it had in weeks. Even with freedom, Rocket did not seem happy. Guilt twisted inside Groot's vines, shouldn't have touched him. Still think all touch is hurt. But he is wounded, the sap. The wood god let out a shout of surprise as the ship lurched forward, elongating their arms to support themselves by the piping on the ceiling. 

"Flark it! Knew those things wouldn't last long!" PPPPttttttssss, Groot's head turned outside to where they could just make out the flickering dying fire of the rockets. The ship drifted, clanked and buckled with a sickening throw. Rocket was flung to the side, cursing and holding his wound. 

"I am Groot?!" Spinning, spinning. Nowhere to anchor, nothing to root into! Where to go? Not Planet X there is no Planet X Groot's memory briefly conjured the rolling hills and grasses of their homeworld. Before they knew of the cruelty the arbor masters did….not back to Halfworld….where? CLANG! The roof of the ship became the floor and Groot's bark scrapped as they slid. Rocket tried to right himself, only to fall once more. This time he didn't get up. 

Hurt! Groot could see the red sap trickling. They looked from the windows to the com controls. So many buttons, so many words. Words. Think. Think of lesso…They slid again, away from the panel to the floor as the ship hurdled, the rockets puffing out the last of their exhaust. 

"Groot…" Rocket's small voice tried to reach that of the dying engines. Groot looked, the small creature lay on his side, surrounded by the strange pieces of metal bolts from the ship. His eyes were unfocused, "we…..we left Lylla…" Groot grimaced.

"I am Groot!" You said yourself we had to leave her….just hold on…we'll get somewhere…somewhere…with a determined grunt they tried to drag themselves across the cockpit, reaching out one vine and looking over the controls. Oxygen, anti-gravity…flight control….flight plan. Groot punched the green rectangular button as the ship hiccupped once more, their hand slipping. Rocket cursed as he'd attempted to stand just as the ship moved and fell to his knees. 

"Groot…" the creatures breaths came in short gasps. Hurt.....bullets…hurt by the scientists. Red sap…blood. Blood. "I think…..I think they shot me!" He hissed with anger. But Groot couldn't do anything about that now. As much as they wanted to. Safety! Land the ship! So much machinery and metal. We cannot command the breeze or the stone…no power to change the will of other lives….but this ship….not alive. Groot felt the hard-sleek buttons, the floor. Nearly texture less. Like the lab. Bland. Groot pushed themselves upward, chest over the control panel and studied the small screen that had popped up when they selected the flight plan. More words: quadrant, galaxy…planet. Slowly they moved the little toggle beside the screen, trying to focus as everything around them shook uncontrollably. "Planet." Not X, not Halfworld….Not even Vidan….somewhere green…somewhere with earth and sky….somewhere with trees. Trees, Tre…Te…Terr…Terra. Terra. Earth. Groot stared at the keypad, typing in each word, remembering what the letters looked like. The way the arbor masters had taught them the human alphabets by scratching into the dirt. E….l? No, doesn't look right….A…R…T…the last letter. What are letters? Why? 

"MMMHhhhhggg," Rocket lay curled now, not even attempting to fight the throws of the ship and skidded backward, hitting the iron doorway ……W?......R….?....H. E-A-R-T-H. Are you sure? Is it right? What if it isn't? No. Do not doubt, just do. Groot was thrown forward, trying to catch themselves before their torso slammed against the controls. Now or never. They bit their bark and punched in the green button. The ship spun, changing trajectory with the last effort it had. Groot's vines struggled to keep hold, rrrraaatttllleee. Blinking lights, "Alert! Alert!" Red flashing lights. Again. Halfworld? No….no…going to earth. Groot tried to tell themselves as they were thrown backward, the stars turning to tiny blinking terrors. Everything spun and with nothing to root down in, Groot spun into a panic. The ship juggernauted towards the earth, hot, hot…hot! Burning! The limited water in Groot's bark evaporated as they got closer, the outside of the ship heating up. Rattling, heat.…. dry. So dry…nothing to root in to. Rocket…where is Rocket? So unnatural.…. too much metal….not supposed to be this way…thought we were free? Will we make it…...will we die? Groot's mind was as jumbled as the shaking ship as it fell from the sky. Groot watched Rocket slide across the floor, unconscious. Heating up…fire…burning…burning like the arbor master…like in the lab….please no…Groot spun into darkness just as the ship crashed downward to Earth.

Solid ground, earth. Grass? Sunshine…something…tapping. Tapping against bark. Nudging. Groot opened their eyes slowly, startling and trying to grow thorns from their shoulder at the human who stood over them. A large male, clothed in robes.

"Who are you?" The human demanded, Groot opened their mouth to try and speak, throat parched and cracking.

"I…am…Groot…" Groot tried. The man frowned. Of course he cannot understand. But sunshine and sky, they grew their roots down into the dry soil. But there was still nutrients there.

"I found another!" A female voice shouted, Groot tried to turn. A tall woman stood over Rocket. Protect! Groot tried to move, limbs heavy, not enough strength yet…but soon. They felt the sun fill them, sprouting buds and leaves, growing green, green leaves. 

"What should we do?" The woman's footsteps moved closer. Groot looked up at them from where they lay on the ground. She examined him, her eyes examining him up and down. Not cruelly….not like the scientists. Kind dark eyes. Groot watched her expression morph from concern to wonder.

"Do you know what this is?" She gasped, the man shook his head. 

"….a wood god," she knelt down, her fellow following her. Bowing. "We should take them in," she instructed. The man nodded and Groot reluctantly stood up with their help. 

"I am Groot," they managed, looking out over the wide, sprawling landscape of grass, interspersed with trees. The woman said something to the man, speaking fast so that Groot could not understand right away. The man scooped Rocket up in his arms and slowly the humans guided them forward, towards a large rock face. 

"Do not be afraid," the woman said, supporting some of Groot's weight with one arm around her. "I do not know your language, but we know someone who does. She will help you. Groot nodded, trust them…. trust…no. Why? Last humans who offered to help imprisoned and tortured. No must trust. Trust…there is still goodness. Trust….must trust. The two humans walked Groot and Rocket forward as Groot felt the strong sun soak into their bark, sprouting leaves. The man beamed, happy, rejoicing. In awe. 

"I never thought I'd meet a wood god. It is an honor!" Groot smiled, feeling vitality go through them as they approached the large cliff. They ducked under a cave, earth! Water, rich air! Such rich nutrients! Strong! Strong! 

"I'd only heard the stories," the woman whispered filled with glee. "Oh, we are here!" She exclaimed, Groot looked from where they'd been watching the man hold Rocket to the scene before them. They'd come out from the cave out into a noisy, but glowingly beautiful towering structures embedded into the rocks. The woman's smile grew watching Groot's amazement.

"Welcome to Wakanda."


	12. Chapter 12

This lab was not like the lab on Halfworld, cleanliness, spirit, pride, intelligence. But no emotions of pain or suffering. No blood. The young woman before them looked at him with pity and honor.

"A wood god," she breathed, bowing. Groot bowed back. "What happened to you?" She asked, reaching out tentatively to stoke his bark. Her fingers with soft as they traced the cracks in Groot's form, the splintered bark. The carvings and brands. Her warm hands touched a large canker in her hand. They'd grown it over some of the wounds, trying to heal and protect the sores. "You can leave them with me," she told the man and woman who had escorted Groot and Rocket there. They bowed and left, placing Rocket down on a white table. "I am Shuri," the young woman introduced herself. "I'll see what can be done for your friend, but you, wood god, you must rest too." Groot nodded, trying to quell the panic inside of them. Safe now, but it could turn. Still her friendly smile made them smile, and they sat where she instructed them to do so.

"I am Groot," Groot explained. To their shock, Shuri nodded. 

"I can tell," she answered, bending close to their arm and holding up a strange device that she peered into, examining his split bark. She understands!!! She knows! Knows the words of our people! How? The humans in Halfworld did not! She…she understands!" Groot beamed, throwing his arms around Shuri in a hug, wincing as their leaves cracked and wood was broken. They scooped her up in their arms, holding her tight. Friendship! Empathy! Smarts, understanding! Understanding! Shuri's musical laughter echoed in Groot's proverbial heart. "Yes!" She exclaimed, "my brother and I had to learn many languages of human and other peoples not from this planet." Groot eventually let her go and she continued looking at their wounds. "We were taught the language of the wood god's from our own elders who say they learned it from the arbor masters themselves." She looked up at Groot, pulling on some gloves, "I am sorry…about your planet." 

"I am Groot," it was not entirely bad. Planet X had not been what it once was for a long time. Groot's grew too powerful. They continued to talk as Shuri gently rubbed an amber salve on to their bark over the wound. "I am Groot!" They had not held a conversation with anyone outside of Lylla and Rocket in so long! They winced, as Shuri poked at another large hard growth that had sprouted over a wound on their back. 

"Sorry," she said, poking once more. "I just want to insert this under here…it will help the wound underneath and you'll slough off the canker later." Groot stiffened, Run! Fight! Hurting! The lab…the lab…fight! No! No, this is help. This is help. She is kind. She is hurting to help. Intentions are pure. They reasoned with themselves as Shuri continued to work. When she finished she let them up and Groot stood, looking over themselves, relief, sweet cooling, healing. 

"I will see what can be done for your friend," she reassured them, looking over at Rocket. "But you should rest." How can we rest? We haven't felt so alive in so long! "Go wherever you want, wood god, you are welcome here." Groot smiled hugging her once more. 

"I am Groot!" She nodded, 

"I'll take good care of him, I promise." Groot took one last look at Rocket, before heading out, out to sunlight! Grass! Groot made their way through Wakanda, marveling at the treasures. Such machinery, natural and unnatural together. They wandered through the streets, smiling at the young children that waved and passed by. Such joy! 

"What is that?!" A young boy asked, running between Groot's long legs and gazing up at them. Groot looked down at the child in the middle of the large sprawling street. Everything lit with vibrant lights, of blues and purples and whites, deep in the earth! 

"I am Groot," Groot said, bending down to the boy's level. He tilted his head confused, So perhaps not everyone knew the language of the Groots they thought. But this was too beautiful a place to be sad! The wood good leaned down, kneeling at the small boy's level and opened their palm, growing a bright blue flower and plucking it, giving it to him. 

"Thank you!" He said, exuberance, youth, vitality, such life! Goodness! Groot watched the boy run away, through the crowded streets. Spices, smells, fresh pressed cloth! Talking, so many lives all in this one city! Like the roots of a tree! All interconnected together! Groot walked through the streets, in and through alley ways, rejoicing at the laughter of the people, frowning as some of them shouted, but it was grand! They walked and walked, down deeper throughout the city, until sounds of dripping water replaced that of the people. Groot went down into the dark abyss of the caverns beneath. Earth, good rich earth. Groot stood in the earth, no light but for the soft glowing purpose of the flowers and the shuffling of the people who worked the plants there. Such care! They tend to these magical flowers with such fastidiousness. Unity how they've managed to use the natural world to inspire their technologies….this…this is was the Groot's were trying to teach. Groot began to grow their roots into the earth, stretching out, feeling the pulsing power of the purple lights, strange but calming. The people here had managed to do what the Groot's could not. Groot closed their eyes, feeling the deep nutrients of this old place throughout their branches. Could stay here forever…they sank their roots into the earth for the first time in years, savoring the precious rest. 

Groot returned to Shuri's lab awhile later, whole. Awake and alive and healing! Their vines felt more robust, their bark still wounded but now better able to heal itself. 

"Did you enjoy yourself?" She asked. 

"I am Groot!" 

"I am glad!" She gestured them to follow her, the flora colossus would've caught their breath if they could breathe. Rocket lay on a small white table, covered over with clear glass. Tubes like the lab, coming in and out of him. Groot shook, thorns coming from their shoulders. 

"It's alright!" Shuri reassured them, going over to a data pad and typing in several keys. "I'm afraid there's not much I can do for him. Unlike you, your friend's very skeleton is made up of crude metal. I tried to replace it with vibranium," Groot looked at the hologram image of Rocket's own skeleton. "But the process would be long, and painful. I am not sure he'd survive it." She sighed, looking over the small creature. 

"I am Groot?" Shuri nodded, swiping the hologram image away. 

"I healed his wound, but this was the best I could do for him," she left the computer and blinked as she held up a small orange jump suit. "This panel in the back," she pointed to a brown triangular leather piece with a circular blue stone in the middle. "It is filled with a watered-down version of vibranium. When he wears it, the liquid will seep in naturally through his skin and it will ease the pain of his cybernetics. It will also lubricate them if they are getting stiff and will neutralize any infection or bacteria growing there." Groot listened to her words, nodding. Good, help. Thank you. He needs it. Thank you. How to repay you? "He should wake soon," she looked back at Rocket and smiled sadly. "Where will you go next?"

"I am Groot," Don't know. Groot said, though they honestly hadn't thought that far ahead. 

"Well you are welcome here for as long as you need." Groot took Shuri's hand, it was so small, but they squeezed it in thanks. This was kindness, this was the compassion the Groot's had first sought to spread. "There's something else," Shuri said, going back to the data pad and typing more. Groot startled as they saw an image of themselves! "Your scans reveal basic cambium, xylem and phlowem tissues but there's something else I found as well." She pointed to the center of Groot's chest where something yellow, solid and seed shaped rested. "According to what my elders told me, that…is a World Pod." The World Pod! The arbor masters told tale of it. The source of all life on Planet X. Some even said it was the source of all life everywhere. 

"I am Groot!" They exclaimed, 

"Yes," Shuri agreed. "You hold within you this World Pod. As the…last Groot…that doesn't just make you it's barer," she looked up at them, worry and happiness and sorrow all tangled in one. Like how we fretted over the young saplings in a storm. "That also makes you…the last monarch…the last arbor master of Planet X."


	13. Chapter 13

"It doesn't look that bad," Shuri tried to convince Rocket for the seventh time this morning. Groot hardly listened to their back and fourth. He was too busy examining the lab, a screen here, as strange gadget there. So much metal and technology, But it is good, made to help and thrive. They thought with a smile, holding a small rectangular box in their hands. Smooth against rough bark, blinking green lights. "Careful with that," Shuri cautioned. 

"I am Groot," they reluctantly put it down and walked towards the large open windows, three times their own height. So much bustling energy, so many lives…But as much as Groot loved feeling the vibrant energy of this new and exciting world, they could not help but miss the peace of X. The peace they'd longed for for so long. They could not put aside the nagging question that made their leaves tremble, Where do we go next? Excitement, overwhelming. Freedom was terrifying.

"Where is you plan to go next?" Shuri asked, as thou she'd read their mind. Groot sighed, the lights of Wakanda shown spectacularly. Almost like the spores of the other Groots, they thought with a pang of sorrow. 

"I am Groot." They admitted, she nodded. 

"Well you are welcome to stay here as long as you like." But the wood god knew they couldn't stay, escaped Halfworld…chasing, chasing after us. They might come here, trepidation wound up their roots and through their bark. No! Must go before it's too late. 

"I am Groot," Groot mumbled with regret. Rocket's ears perked upward from where he stood, inspecting a gun that Shuri had made lying on a table. 

"Leave?! Why would we leave?!" Shuri looked between them anxiously, 

"I am Groot," they tried to explain, hating it even as they spoke. The bustling streets of Wakanda filed out below out the large window of the lab. 

"So what?!" Rocket cried, splaying his arms out, "let em' come! Have you seen all the weapons they got? They'll be fine!" 

"I am Groot," doesn't matter if. It matters when. Scientists will come at we cannot put these people in danger. They helped us. We must leave for their own safety. Find somewhere we won't be tracked. Rocket's eyes shifted to the young woman, he stared down at his own two feet, considering. 

"…and where would we even go?" He demanded incredulously. 

"Otrino," Shuri answered. Both Groot and Rocket looked at her. "In the third quadrent. It's a nearly deserted place, home to only a few towns here and there. If people are after you, Otrino probably won't even be on their radar. It's not populated enough to make it on many planetary rosters. You'll be safe." Groot nodded, safety. Quiet. Green? Growing things? Flowers?

"I am Groot," they decided. 

"Tsch," Rocket snorted, his ears flicking back in distain. 

"We can give you a ship," Shuri offered, walking over to another data pad and pulling up the blueprint of a small vessel. 

"What about weapons?" Rocket demanded. 

"I have a few prototypes you are welcome to take," she commented offhand. Groot watched a sardonic grin cross the raccoonoid's face. Why so much pleasure in things that hurt others? Shuri outfitted them with the small ship, three guns of Rocket's choice and plenty of green leaves and soil for Groot. "It has been an honor to host you, wood god." She said as they readied themselves to board the ship. Groot nodded, sorrow aching at their soul. 

"I am Groot," they bowed, holding out a large hand and growing from it a small white flower, they plucked it handing it Shuri who took it gently with awe.   
"You will always have friends here in Wakanda, should you ever need us." Groot nodded, thankful. Yes, love and trust and friendship….humans are still capable of good after all. Hope. 

"A'right, we done here?" Rocket asked harshly, he didn't so much as glance at Shuri but boarded the small ship. Groot shook their head, doesn't know how to respond to kindness. Never knew kindness. The wood god nodded to the human once more, finally forcing themselves to leave, soil, sand and ground…. metal…smooth. No nutrients, they thought regretfully. Rocket punched in the coordinates Shuri had given them and Groot watched out the window as Wakanda and soon all of Terra became smaller and smaller. So many lives, so small, planets so small. They drifted on, leaping through the different quadrants as Groot tried desperately to root themselves down on the ship. The vessel was sleek, smooth, but still so foreign. 

"There," Rocket pointed out the window as the Wakandan ship came to a gracefully slow speed. Groot peered out the window, frowning slightly. Orange and dusty….no green. They touched down with a rough landing, Groot fell forward, catching themselves and glared as Rocket was already picking up his gun and heading out. Groot held up their arm, momentarily blinded by the hot sun, but it's rays came down enveloping them, filling their leaves. Such warmth and light! They didn't even mind the lack of water. Only glad to feel the sunshine penetrate through his leaves and bark, filling them. Dry air, hard sand and rocks. Little soil but so much sun! 

"Alright," Rocket sighed, looking around, "well it's been nice knowing you Groot." Groot looked down at the raccoonoid's words. 

"I am Groot?"

"It's been nice knowing you," the small creature continued, he looked up at the flora colossus with red eyes, hurt and confused, bewildered, not knowing where to go but knowing he couldn't stay. Loneliness. 

"I am Groot?" Rocket shrugged, 

"Don't know where I'll go but trust me, it's better you don't follow." 

"I am Groot?" Why? Don't want to be alone! You don't know how to live…you've never lived before. Protect. Protect. 

"Just cuz," Rocket turned away, scanning the horizon as the wood god followed his head. Smoke ahead….strange structures puncturing the skyline. Rocket turned back to him briefly, nodding, his small mouth opening and closing, searching for something to say. "See yah," he settled on. 

"I am Groot!" The wood god reached out, Rocket jumped back, gun out and aimed. The flora colossus halted, staring down the barrel of the weapon in breathless bewilderment. …..He'd hurt me? Even after all we've gond through? I….I protected him.

"Don't follow me!" Rocket snarled, his eyes narrowing. 

"I am Groot!" Groot tried to explain, together. We put Lylla to rest together…we got free together…found Wakanda together…we go together. Protect together. Rocket would not be swayed, anger from an unknown source, resentment of himself. Needs to flee, needs to run. No…no need to run anymore! We can grow, grow together! Groot reached out their hand, winding wooden fingers around the metal gun and bent it, creeeek, the weapon bent beneath their hold.

"What the flark are you…." Groot wrenched it from Rocket's small hands, even though he held on tight. No more hurting. "Now you've done it!" The raccoonoid raged as the gun snapped in two under the wood god's might and fell to the ground. "Forget it, I'm outta here!" He cursed, hatred….anger…Groot's bark quaked with the weight of it. Rocket only shook his head and turned his back. 

"I am Groot!" The flora colossus called, reaching out to him. There is love! There is hope, we can grow! Don't you see? Wakanda, Shuri, all is not Halfworld! All is not torture or hurt! But Rocket did not listen, he only waved a hand, checking his other two guns at his belt. "I am Groot!" This made him turn, his red eyes piercing Groot like the knives of the scientists, they flinched. 

"Who the flark do you think you are?! I don't need you, you stupid hunk of bark! I don't care what you or anyone else thinks!" He shouted. "I stuck with you cuz you got the muscle but I don't need you no more! Dumb tree, why don't you go 'I am Groot' someone else?" He fumed, the wood god trembled, sending their roots down into the sand, trying to gain purchase. Trying to reach out for something greater then themselves just like how Rocket was reaching out now. Reaching, clawing, thrashing out…the only way he knew how.

"I am Groot!" But Rocket only bared his teeth and snarled, reaching for his second weapon as Groot tried to grow a vine out to him. 

"I don't need you! I don't need anyone!" He turned back once more, storming away.

"I am Groot!" All living things need sunlight, earth, water and love to grow and thrive. Groot stumbled back as something hit their bark. They looked down, watching as their own tissue quickly expelled the bullet from their wooden chest. 

Rocket's voice was twisted and fractured. "I'm leavin. And if you know what's good for you, you'll let me alone. I won't miss a second time."

Groot watched in helpless shock as the small creature walked away across the sand flats. How? Connections are deep, like roots, intermingling….how can they be so easily severed? So much pain of the heart. But he is not the only one who suffers the ruins of Halfworld…Groot thought, their own deep memory conjuring the needles and the fire and the hands of the scientists. Groot wondered in misery as they watched Rocket's tiny form disappear. You cannot protect someone who doesn't want to be protected, the terrible truth festered in their soul. Not even the suns brilliant rays seemed so welcoming anymore. They sat, thinking until the sun went down and the stars came out, sitting there alone on the dunes, the flora colossus had never felt more lonesome.


	14. Chapter 14

Scientists across the galaxy know very little about Wood Gods. Despite their power and prestige known nearly every quadrant before their fall, there has been little notes taken on their physiology, biology and reproduction. Scientists can prescribe the same categories to them as they do with other species in the kingdom Plantae such as labeling a Groot with berries female and one with spores’ male, but even that does not fit. Groots themselves do not really know where they come from or how they came to be. They knew what the arbor masters told them, but even the arbor masters are not certain themselves. The first memory this Groot had was of opening its eyes to the glimmering sun from where they had sprouted upward through the earth. Their tiny roots connected to all the others. Flora colossus life and ways remain a mystery, a mystery that the scientists on Halfworld tried to uncover for exploitation and they came as close as anyone to doing it, though Groot would never know. It was thinking about this very fact, the unknowability of their own being that Groot contemplated as they sat in the sand and found themselves drying out. Alone again in the windy desert. As usual it was thirst that drew Groot to go towards the odd structures on the horizon. After much anxiety about whether or not leave the ship, they finally decided that this planet was empty enough so there was little chance someone would take it. Have faith in the goodness that it will stay put, that no one will take it. They tried to cling to that faith, though it had been ripped from them on Halfworld, then restored in Wakanda, and taken again when Rocket threatened to shoot him. But they were trying to cultivate it back again. 

Groot lumbered through the town, scents of spice and alcohol and roasting meats wafted through the air, though of course they didn’t know what any of these smells were. They drifted from market stall to market stall, peering at the strange variety of foods and trinkets, then they stopped, water. Their roots could sense it, tingling. The flora colossus stumbled through, ignoring the shouts and protests of the different alien peoples as they scrambled to get out of their way. Water, so thirsty. So thirsty. There! 

“Twenty units please!” They watched the merchant hold a small glass ball in their large tentacle hand, filled with clean pristine water. Heat swam through Groot’s soft tissue, shriveling up their bark and leaves. They let out a whimper as three leaves crumbled brown and fell to the sand. 

“Here you go,” a tall woman answered, handing over what looked like coins. The merchant handed it over to her, which she drank plentifully before Groot’s jealous eyes. Must get water. But…don’t have units…but Groot could not ignore their needs any longer. They knew what they felt like, knew all too well. With that thought Groot approached the stand, licking their wooden lips at the thought of the liquid water.

“May I help you? It’s twenty units for a small bottle, forty for a large.” 

“I am Groot,” Groot explained, taking a large bottle in their hands and pouring out on to their bark, they relished in the smooth relaxation of the water. 

“Hey!” The merchant snapped, “you need to pay for that!” Pay? You can’t own water, everyone needs it. It’s not right to charge anyone.If you charge, then those who don’t have units can’t have water and all living things need water. No money…but…something else. Groot grew a flower from their hand, offering it to the merchant and frowned, hurt as the shop keep snatched it away, crushing the white petals in its tentacles. “Forty units! Now!” Groot winced as the shop keep pulled a gun on them, “or else!” Run! Groot ran for it, through the market, though with little notice to the other stalls. They came crashing down before them. They tossed away a tent that fell down on them and frantically tripped over a family that dodged for covers past the clashing of bullets. 

“I am Groot!” They tried to explain as they ran, bark fragmented as the bullets hit. Hurt, Halfworld. They grew vines out behind them, lashing out at the merchant alien who chased them down. Groot spun, ran for an alleyway between two clay buildings, wracking their long fingers into the fragmented clay. “I am Groot!” They cried, shocked screams echoing as they braced themselves for crashing into the back of a shop. 

“It’s a monster!” A man yelled, shielding his child as Groot’s vines grew thorns and swung for the police that now pursued them, clad in robes of beige blankets. They brandished their staffs which shot out bullets, Halfworld, pain, run….just wanted water. Don’t want to hurt! Please! Please! 

“It’s hideous!” Groot turned, facing the officers, red pain lacerating their bark. Their vines whirled, artfully smacking one of the officers off their feet and running through another. Screaming, blue sap. Defend yourself, protect! 

“WAAAHHH!” The high pitched shriek of a child caused Groot to turn around, starring in horror. Seperated from it’s mother who was stuck between the frantic crowds trying to get out of the line of fire, a small child wailed, looking around but frozen stiff. Fear, panic, confusion. Lost! Groot looked up, the soldiers with their barbs and the merchant with his gun ran unprecedented, one of the soldiers harshly shoving a large orloni aside, into the fearful crowd. 

“Get back here freak!” The ruined flower, didn’t mean to take…. just couldn’t pay. Not in units. The child cried out and Groot swallowed, feeling the knots in their vines. Shield, protect, the World Pod inside of them urged. With that Groot dove forward, towards their attackers, groaning at the bullets which hit them now head on. They lifted their arms to shield themselves and let out four long vines ahead of them, each reaching forward past the child and taking out a solider. Groot crouched, enveloping the small child in their arms and hoisted them up, looking around for it’s mother. 

“My baby!” Came the answer, Groot turned to see the woman, clawing at the clothes and appendages of the others who pressed her tightly between them. They ran for her, still shielding the small crying child from the firing rounds and finally reached over the shoulders of the crowed, thrusting the kid into her arms. 

“I am Groot!” They said, the woman looked up, all four of her eyes blinking back tears. But she smiled at them,

“Th…thank you…” warmth. Warmth from her eyes, reaching inside, spreading, yes, this is good. Not a monster. NOT a monster. Lightening jabs of burning pain made Groot cower as a rod was pierced into their side. 

“Hold it right there!” Groot looked up, into the masked face of the policeman. “You are under arrest for stealing. Instigating violence, grievous bodily harm and public endangerment.” Stealing? No! Just wanted water, please! Why are some creatures so ready to see goodness and others only assume bad? Groot threw one large arm upward, socking the officer in the chin and bolted, fast as they could. Charging through the shops, crashing into at least three ships. Groots are not fast creatures, they are meant to move slow, like moss growing on a rock but this Groot had learned that sometimes fast was better and with new energy in their roots from the water, they charged, running past the homes of the people in makeshift tents, until they could no longer feel the pursuit of the officers. Groot finally collapsed in the sand, crawling to the shade of a large metal create that had been discarded. They sat, heaving though they did not breathe air through lungs and felt the quake of their bark. 

Just wanted water…didn’t mean to steal or do harm but had to drink. Halfworld had taught Groot many things, including the hard fact that sometimes one could not always bee all benevolent and good. Sometimes you had to fight for what you needed when outside forces prevented you from getting it. 

“I am Groot,” they thought miserably, shaking their head. Suddenly something sounded, sslllssshh, sllooosh. Water! The wood good stood shakily, looking up over the metal container, a large eeret drank water from a large trough, sloshing it everywhere. “I am Groot!” They took their chance and ran to the water, climbing into the tub and standing tall, letting their roots grow under the water and climb up over the edges. The eeret snorted, filling itself and waddling off but Groot hardly noticed as they turned their face to the sun and let the water fill them. Peace can be found even in chaotic places. Groot did not know what they would do tomorrow, or the next day but they let themselves feel at ease if only for a few moments.


	15. Chapter 15

Groot didn’t know how long they were on Otrino, they do not measure time the same way humans do, as we have discussed. But by human calculations Groot spent several weeks on the dusty lonely planet. They spent most of the time walking back and forth from the ship to the water trough and then to the abandoned shipping container for shade during the heat of the sun. They walked among the outskirts, examining the heaps of garbage, smelling of rot and decay. More empty containers, three ships from across the galaxy left to bake in the sun. Every once and awhile an orloni would pass by and they would watch it crawl, slithering about over the dunes, following its fish like gaze as it examined the sandy landscape but eventually it would wander off and Groot would watch it sadly as once again, they were left alone. They dared not wander into the town again, it was too risky. The only thing that could possibly await them there was pain. Pain like Halfworld…creatures who wanted to hurt and cause misery. Creatures who wanted to charge people for things everyone needed. Groot’s leaves withered at the thought of it. Stealing they said. Stealing? Is bad? But I needed to steal…and that merchant had plenty. They would have been fine…they justified it to themselves for the millionth time. But stealing was not something that Groot’s even understood conceptually. The arbor masters taught nothing of stealing because they knew nothing about individual property. The sun and soil was for all. The very little of stealing that they did know came from what they’d learned from others. Stealing. Taking something that does not belong to you. Bad. Groot stood, shaking out their branches and looked once more to the town, sighing. Lonely. Want to care for others. Be around them. Roots quivered, languages, lights, smells of food and friendship. The wood god furrowed their brow, going forward. It was time. They grinned apprehensive at the stirring in their core, the world pod turning, they felt it for courage. Over the sands they stepped, large wooden feet sinking into the sand. Crunching through the debris. Clank, clash! Groot’s head whipped up, to the left, danger! They dove behind a large rusting trash compactor. Whhhhrrrr….pssh! White hot heat blasted off from an unknown source and something cursed in some unknown language. A large alien with three eyes and a fin across it’s back crumpled to the ground cradling an arm in pain. 

“You vermin!” It howled, Groot turned their head and their draw dropped. Ro…Rocket. Groot shivered, watching as the creature stumbled, the large shaky clanking gun he toted falling from his right paw. In his left, Groot could make out some small scrap of food that he clung to. Rocket fell forward on his hands and knees. Thornes sprouted from Groot’s shoulders on instinct as they watched another alien lunge at Rocket, nearly crushing him under the weight. Help! Take them down! Protect! But…Rocket told me to stay away…wanted to shoot me. Rocket’s snarled carried over the dry air, and Groot breathed a sigh of relief as they watched Rocket re-emerge from underneath, body shaking and his lungs heaving between his clearly visible ribs. Sickness, starving…like Lylla. Heavy cold sorrow ran through Groot, urgency. Protect! Please Rocket let me help you…the wood god winced as the first alien who’d been shoot now ran at Rocket, grabbing him with one arm and shaking him violently. 

“Give it to me or I’ll pry it from you dead hands!” Rocket’s fur blurred into browns and greys as he was shaken and eventually dropped to the ground. Groot stood, stiffly, the world pod within thrumming with indecision. Crash! Groot shielded themselves, throwing up their arms on instinct as something hit the other side of the trash compactor. Heavy wheezing drew the wood god’s gaze downward. Rocket crawled now, tail limp, still holding what appeared to be a rotten version of the sweet-smelling dough balls Groot recognized from the day in the market. 

“Give it!” The two aliens demanded, closing in on Rocket. 

“F….flark you…” Rocket breathed, Groot dropped down as they crept closer, back against the metal plating, looking upward and tilting their head as they could almost see the two thugs cornering the raccoonoid. Protect! Fight! Shield! He’s sick…he’ll die…like Lylla. Like Lylla. Thorns erupted along the wood god’s arms and back as they vaulted over the compactor, over the heads of the aliens who turned in stunned horror. 

“I AM GROOOT!” They lashed out with their vines, wrapping around the finned alien and flinging him as far as they could until the distant thud was satisfacorly. The second thug ran at them, but Groot was too quick. They parried to the left as the alien brought down some primitive weapon, a shard of scrap metal. A quick vine snapped it from their hands and Groot let loose their right arm, grabbing the alien’s led, tripping him and lifting him upside down. “I am Groot!” They repeated, rage filling them. How dare they threaten, pick on someone who has nothing? Someone so helpless? Who could be so cruel? Why must people be so cruel. Thought it was just Halfworld…but cruelty is everywhere along with kindness.  
Groot squeezed their grip around the alien’s leg. They shrieked, and Groot snapped it with a single movement, dropping him.

“C…crazy fucking tree!” He screamed, eyes rolling back into his head as he collapsed in the sand. Good. Protect. Good. Rocket…. radiating pride within them beamed as they stepped over to Rocket. Hunger, hunger. They could feel it stinging in their own core as they approached Rocket, who had eyes only for the piece of bread. Crumbs falling from his hands as he hunched over it, shaking. 

“I am Groot?” They asked slowly and softly, Rocket only continued to eat, shoving the bread into his mouth. “I am Groot…” Reach for him….comfort…no. Doesn’t like that. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve affection….doesn’t want it…Groot held back their hand as they stood over the creature. “I am…” Rocket turned, as if only just noticing them after he finished swallowing the food.

“Why did you do that?!” He demanded roughly, “how are you still even here? I left you weeks ago!” 

“I am Groot!” Rocket teetered on his feet, his eyes glossy like back at the lab. Heat, coming off in waves…radiating like the lab. Like Halfworld. Groot shivered. 

“I told you! I don’t need you! Now get! G…” shallow sides came in and out, body swaying listlessly. Before they could help themselves, Groot caught Rocket as he fell face forward. The little raccoonoid remained still, life. Small and fragile. Thump-thump…thump-thump. What is that? Groot listened, gently lifting Rocket up in their arms and tilted his head to the small furry chest. Thump-thump…thump-thump. Was that….a heartbeat! A smile spread across the wood god’s face as they held Rocket, pulling him close. Flora Colossus have no heart, but the arbor masters explained that many other being who grew did have hearts. They were fragile. They needed protection. Rocket’s shallow breaths whooshed against the bark of the wood god and Groot felt their smile widening. They opened the plates of their bark on either side of their chest, Rocket curled around himself slowly as Groot fitted the small animal into the hallow they made. “I am Groot,” Groot whispered. Touch, affection. It is okay to touch. Warmth, nurturing. Groot slowly let loose their glowing yellow spores from the palm of their wooden hands, holding them over Rocket as he slept.

“MmmHmm,” the serenity of the moment deteriorated as Groot looked up, Rocket stirred but did not wake but the alien man fidgeted. Groot grew out a vine and knocked him down once more, smarting him in the back of the head. Rocket sniffed, and Groot braced themselves for some sort of violence but only felt the gently grip of the raccoonoid’s tiny claws clinging to their bark. Groot looked up, millions of silver stars dancing in the galaxy. The dry air made the scars of their carved up bark flake painfully, but so much beauty, impossible to feel hurt. They watched as the spores from their hands drifted around illuminating Rocket and then drifting around the two of them, eventually going up into the galaxy. Groot looked down at the sleeping animal, content though wounded and malnourished. Serenity, full, protective, at peace. Sleeping. They could feel Rocket’s heart-beat, so simple but so vital. Thump-thump…thump-thump. At last, this is home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize the end of this chapter is repetitive from my one shot "For Those Who Have a Heart." But I really like the idea and I think it's really sweet and heartwarming and I wanted to have a sweet heartwarming moment!


	16. Chapter 16

“So what are we going to do with him?” Rocket demanded the next morning, as he and Groot stared down at the unconscious alien. Groot shook their head, they had carefully and reluctantly removed Rocket from their embrace upon sensing the first rays of the light and had wandered back behind the abandoned container, knowing nothing good would come from Rocket waking up and finding himself in such close proximity to another creature. 

“I am Groot,” Groot had emerged after waiting a few moments as seeing Rocket struggle to stand. The raccoonoid only glowered at them but didn’t make any threat of violence. Instead he lumbered over to where the alien thug lay sprawled and motionless. 

“Well?” He inquired, kicking the victim with one paw. Groot stood over him, scrutinizing the thing. Hadn’t meant to kill…….the world pod within them thrummed with conscern a Groot could not take a life! By their very nature wood gods were protectors of life, and even all the horrors of Halfworld can’t change that! Groot tried to reassure themselves as they pondered the alien before them. 

“I…I am Groot?” Rocket grunted, 

“No, he aint’ dead. You knocked him out pretty good though.” The wind howled between them, spiting sand into the flora colossus bark. “Guess we gotta kill him now though,” Rocket shrugged, obviously unperturbed. No! Can’t! Groot protested, stepping around over the alien and looking down at Rocket who seemed too exhausted to even attempt at touching the goon. He’s so hungry…thirsty….have to get…images of the market flooded before their eyes. The spices of the oreken cakes, the roasting of hattapan meat. Must get him food, must get units to get food. Groot looked at the thug, thinking. Could give him over to the officers…in exchange for units! If he was so bad surely they must want to catch him! They’ll be grateful and we can request units in exchange for him. And that way we don’t have to kill him! 

“I am Groot!” They relayed. Rocket tilted his head, looking up at him with narrow, dull eyes incredulously. 

“This might come as a surprise to you,” the raccoonoid growled after Groot explained their plan. “But I already had a run-in with the officers, and broke outta their prison too! If I go back now they’ll arrest me.” 

“I am Groot,” you seem to like being arrested and breaking out of prisons. Rocket raised a brow, then sighed. 

“Fair point,” he moved forward picking up one the aliens large limbs in both his paws. “Let’s see how many units the Otrino officers want for this sucker.” Groot grinned, easily throwing the thug over their shoulder as they headed back into the market. 

Thus Groot and Rocket’s first bounty was delivered. The criminal that had been harassing Rocket was wanted by the Otrino officers on five accounts of fraud and twenty-four accounts of thievery. They even forgave Groot for their own thieving, provided they sign some strange thing with strange script that confirmed they wouldn’t do it again, which they happily did.  
200 units, 100 each was enough to buy Rocket some much needed food, which he devoured at Groot’s delight. Groot themselves purchased more water-though they were sure to get it from a different merchant and the two of them. 

“I…I am Groot?” Groot asked, drinking down the last of their water and feeling their branches go taunt with strength. Beside them Rocket finished his own reetle sandwich, ears pricking up at Groot’s use of the word “we.” The wood god waited for Rocket’s answer, wants to be alone they could sense from where Rocket sat. But only because he’s known nothing else. Afraid of how to be a partner. Doesn’t know, fear. Fear masked as anger. 

“I, I don’t know what we should do next.” The strange creature finally admitted. Radiance and joy sprang from Groot’s proverbial heart at Rocket’s answer. We. Yes! We! Groot grew their arms out, unable to contain themselves and hugged the raccoonoid close to their side. Rocket’s ears flicked down, he bared his teeth and Groot moved to retract their embrace, “a’right, a’right don’t get chummy! I’m keepin’ you around because your handy in a fight okay?” The raccoonoid yanked away but Groot only stood and felt themselves elated with possibility. Companionship! Friendship! Yes! Halfworld did not totally destroy him after all! They stopped, looking down at the empty clear container of where the water had been. The water they bought with units from a bounty. Groot hoped the officers wouldn’t kill that thug but…they couldn’t be sure. Did Halfworld…destroy us? They still conceptualized themselves in relation to all other Groots and world pod within them. They sighed, shaking out the leaves attached to their arms and followed Rocket as he tossed his wrapper halfhazardly on the sand. Otrino had nothing left for them, and so they decided they should look into getting off “this sandbox” as Rocket put it. 200 units, or rather the 150 they had left was not nearly enough to buy a ship. But it was enough to buy passage aboard a cargo vessel that Groot was able to bribe the captain with. They sailed to Ptellion, found a bounty there-a gang of low-level criminals and captured them in an alley way on the planet’s capital city. This brought in 1,000 units with which Rocket spent his share on two new guns. Next they stored away aboard a tourist cruiser, though Groot didn’t like sneaking. Rocket assured them they weren’t doing anything truly wrong. They traveled around the galaxy in whatever way they could without their own ship. Pulling bounties where they could and not all of them successful either. Rocket got caught and imprisoned a majority of the time. During which the wood god would roam around, distracted usually by all the new people and smells and things to discover! After the tenth time Groot knew Rocket would make it back to them eventually and stopped fretting. It was par for the course. It was after tracking and bringing down a Stakrian boss who ran a crime ring out of Wobat and a reward of 5,000 units that Groot discovered alcohol for the first time. 

“This shit is great!” Rocket slugged down another shot of Asguardian whisky. “Had it in that Trakavian jail few turns back!” Groot peered at the strange amber liquid. Not water…? “Just try it!” Rocket encouraged, waving the bar tender over for the second time. 

“What d’aya want?” The large alien asked. Groot looked at Rocket who nodded,

“I am Groot.” The bar keep frowned, doesn’t understand. Why can’t he just understand? 

“Yeah nice to meet yah Groot now what do you want?” He demanded. 

“I…am…Groot,” the wood god explained slower. The alien rolled his eyes and jabbed a finger at the wood god. 

“Look buddy I ain’t here for games. Get your drink or get out!” Anger. 

“I, am Groo…” they tried to explain once more but was met with something hard hitting against their bark. Hands. Pain. Halfworld?! Groot moaned in pain and confusion, hands coming up to defend themselves, closing their eyes on instinct against the flare of the electricity or fire they expected. A bottly crashed, splashing liquid over their bark. 

“Hey!” Rocket shouted, and Groot startled up from the stool with the sudden weight that fell on their left shoulder. Bang! Bang! The wood god spun, get out! Get out! Get out! Halfworld! Hurt, burning! No please! They grew out their arms, barreling into tables and knocking over booths, tripping on the patrons that ran for safety. 

“I am Groot!” They shouted as they bolted for the door, why can’t we make them understand? The prongs, knives. Carving. Chasing. Chemicals, stale, lights, cold metal. Chains. Stining. Groot ran through the memories, the flashbacks of the lab. Even as the barkeep shouted and threw things after them. Even as Rocket fired his gun and Groot tumbled out of the establishment into the street. “I am Groot!” 

“Groot!” Rocket’s husky, growling voice close to their ears. The weight on their shoulder did not lift, Groot shook, waving their arms in attempt to get it off as they opened their eyes, and stopped. “Groot it’s just me!” Rocket perched upon them, small claws holding on to the top of their head and toes into their shoulder. Groot looked at the raccoonoid. Didn’t mean to hurt them…didn’t mean to hurt you…Halfworld…burning. Memories…the scientists. Masks. Cuttting and carving. Bark splitting, leaves ripping. 

“I…I am Groot,” they gasped. Rocket’s face contorted in worry,

“Hey. Bud, it’s alright okay? No one’s gunna burn you.”

“I am Groot?” Rocket nodded, looking them in the eyes. Not love. Not yet. Friendliness. Care. Concern. Conscious. “I…I am Groot.” They watched a hesitant smile come to Rocket’s muzzle and the raccoonoid climbed down from their shoulder. 

“No Groot, it’s alright." Rocket’s eyes searched for something momentarily looking at Groot. Emotions unreadable. Finally the raccoonoid shifted his stance, the moment breaking. "Now, lets get off this trash dump. Forget em’," Rocket waved in the direction of the bar. From their suit he pulled out an odd looking data pad. 

“I am Groot?”

“Swiped it off a desk Atren Law Enforcement Headquarters when we brought in Ironelen.” Groot watched Rocket’s finger flip through the different planets until Groot saw something, and pointed. 

“I am Groot!” Rocket stopped, reading the alien script, 

“It’s called Zat….Zandr…Xandar?” Groot looked at the glowing screen, Rocket shrugged. “Sure, we’ll see what bounties they got.” The wood god nodded, Xandar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know the official terms used to describe things like months or years in the GOTG universe so when Rocket says "a few turns," he's referring to a measurement of time, like a few months in my mind.


	17. Chapter 17

_“The planet Xandar is full of buildings, structures made of metal, surrounded by water,” the arbor masters explained. “It is not devoid of forests or naturally growing things but like all humanoid species they seek to refine the wildness of nature and restrict it to conform to their so called ‘civilization.’”_ Groot allowed the clean water bubbling from the fountains to wash away the memories of Planet X. _Don’t dwell on the past, we are somewhere new!_ All around them Xandarians and many, many others bustled around. _So many new colors! So bright! That Tkarian over there feels excited too!_ Groot gurgled more water into their mouth, burgeoning nervousness scrambled off of a Ykavian woman who strode past. Her sharp eyes surveyed Groot for a moment, looking at them up and down. _Danger, foreign, get out. You are not welcome here._ Groot’s vines twisted with insecurity, wishing he could sink into the earth below. _I am sorry…I shouldn’t be here…_ they thought, knowing speaking to reassure her would not work. They plummeted their face into the cleansing water once more, slurping it up.

 

“Groot! Don’t drink fountain water you idiot.” Rocket scolded, Groot looked up, shaking their ead in vehement denial. The raccoonoid’s eyes narrowed. “Yes, you were I just say you doing it, why are you lying?” Groot shrugged, turning to gaze at the wonder all around. _Yes there were no forests, but there was so much sunshine! Fresh air!_ Though it was tinged with chemicals from the city, new scents that were sharp and new. _Not bad…nor good?_ The ambiguity of it made their leaves tremble as they looked around the unfamiliar planet.

 

“Hey!” Rocket snapped, “that’s our bounty!” Groot turned just in time to see the raccoonoid dash off, launching himself tactlessly at the green skinned woman who was wrestling with some human man. _Green like the leaves on X in the springtime…sunshine liquid and gold reflecting off of them,_ the world pod stirred warmth and memory within them. Their bark quaked to be their once more. “Put him in the bag, put him in the bag!” Groot shook their head, _all that was gone now. Burned away, carved and pulverized by those who attacked their planet…by those on Halfworld._ Hesitating they attempted to lift the sack over the green woman. _Don’t think of Halfworld….you are safe…the world pod is safe…there is hope. Help Rocket. He needs it, we need units to get things to drink and eat and live. No time for dreams of forests._ “No! Not her,” Rocket corrected, “him! Learn genders man!” _Man? Were they a he? Or a she?_ They’d never thought of themselves in eitherway. None of the other Groot’s ascribed a sex to them. There was no need. _Gender just seems like another attempt to categorize and label in order to have some sense of control._ “Biting! That’s not fair!” Groot groaned as the woman tensed in their hold, wooden vines cracking as she lifted her arms with sheer strength and split their bark. “Aaaahhh!” Rocket screamed, and Groot watched in cold surprise as she grabbed him easily about the middle, hocking him over her head. The flora colossus followed the trajectory until Rocket smacked into a clear panel of some building.

 

“I am,” the woman’s eyes turned on him, blade out. Groot held up his arms, _no! No don’t hurt! Mean no harm! You must not attack our bounty! We need him for units! Please!_ The green woman’s sword flashed, slicing his bark. Icy metal bit into them, sending flashes of torture through their mind, the odd people in the odd masks with the matches and the knives, scalpels and so many tools. Groot groaned, stumbling backward as the green woman darted away.

 _Must protect! Where is Rocket? What if there are people from Halfworld here? Going to cut us down again…_ inside their chest the world pod glowed, vulnerable and begging to be taken by any Xandarian here. Fear gripped Groot’s roots as they searched through the crowds for the green woman. Making sure she wasn’t near. _Must leave! Find Rocket, get away! Look for units somewhere else!_ They lumbered through the crowed, following the chaos.

 

“What is that thing!?” A man hollered, Groot could feel his jabbing finger.

 

“It’s a monster!” _Monster, freak…they do not recognize the world gods like on the other planet..._ he thought of the young woman who had helped them when they first escaped Halfworld. _Shuri….a kind human woman…like Hannah,_ a stab of longing hit Groot as they pondered wherever that girl was now. _Still safe? Must find her! Maybe after this bounty we can find her._

 

“Groot! You idiot there you are!” Rocket wiped his cheek with the back of his paw.

 

“I am Groot?”

 

“Do I look like I’m fine?!” He barked. _Irritated, wants the bounty._ Before Groot could ask further Rocket darted off, the flora colossus following in suit. “There!” The raccoonoid pointed, Groot grinned, _the bounty!_ They lifted the sack, _We can do it right this time!_ They threw the sack down over the strange human man who wriggled and squirmed.

 

“I am Groot!” They announced triumphant, heaving the sack over their shoulder.

 

“Quit smiling you idiot you’re supposed to be a professional!” The wood god only smiled wider, “Oh…you’ve got to be kidding me,” Groot tensed, trying to root down against the white stone of the Xandarian metropolis. _Nothing to sink roots into!_ They coiled with dread watching the green skinned woman shove Rocket out of the way with ease. The flora colossus dropped the sack as the woman rushed towards them, sword out.

 

 _Craaack!_ Slivers of agony sliced through each gaping cut, her weapon fast and unyielding. _No! Please…can’t hurt her…she’s not the bounty. Can’t hurt but…must defend? Must fight to protect. To protect ourselves!_ Inner turmoil rose and fell within them as they raised their hands to block each blow. The woman grunted, spinning and Groot let out a cry as bark and vine, cambium tissue and xylem sliced through, their arm snapping off. _No! Don’t want to hurt you!_ They moaned in pain, this time raising their remaining arm, ready to bring it down upon her. _Ssshhink!_ Serrated metal cut through their arm upward, breaking bark on contact. Groot stumbled backward relieved of their remaining limb. _Colors…dancing…where is the earth?! Please…don’t hurt us…can’t go back to Halfworld! Stop such destruction! We haven’t hurt you! Why would…_ the blade slid crossways into their lower torso and Groot doubled over, blinking past the nauseating pain. They watched the woman stoop over to the sack and lift it. The man inside fired, _hot blue lightening blasts. Pain! Shocks!_ Groot felt the woman shake involuntarily and collapse. _See what it is like? To be in such pain? No! don’t think such thoughts!_ Darkness shrouding their own light. _Do not let others pain bring us pleasure. If it does, then you are no better than those on Halfworld._ Creeping rot seemed to settle in them at the thought of it.

The human man scrambled to his feet, not even bothering to look at Groot.

 

“I live for the simple things,” Rocket was before them once more, reaching for his makeshift gun. “Like how much this is gonna hurt.” The wood god bit their own lip watching the hadron enforcer clank and shoot, hitting the human squarely in the small of his back. _Adrenaline, amusement, pleasure. Excitement. Vivacious satisfaction._ The emotions wafted off Rocket with disturbing potency. Groot trembled, _don’t let the horrors of Halfworld command you so. Don’t let them rule your heart Rocket. You are not their toy. Don’t let their desire for your making command you. You are better than them. You are capable of more than destruction….surely?_ That seed of doubt threatened to come to terrible germination in Groot’s mind. It had long been planted in their proverbial heart ever since they met Rocket. Plant matter, fresh and viscus dribbled down their side, Groot followed its watery smell, laying their eyes at last on their torn limbs. They kicked at it miserably with remorse. “It’ll grow back you d’ast idiot quit whining!” Groot whimpered, then gasped as yellow shimmering light enveloped them.

 

“Subject 89P13, drop your weapon!” _The scientists from Halfworld!_ Groot tried to twist out of the light that captured them but to no eval. They were lifted, suspended and watched all around them as the green woman, still knocked unconscious and the human man across the way were also lifted upwards. The wood god turned to Rocket who only let his gun fall,

 

“Oh…crap.” It clattered to the ground and Groot stared up at the odd space ships.

 

“By order of the Nova Corps you are under arrest!” _Maybe we can explain? If they are not from Halfworld?_ Groot searched for the best possibility. _Have hope, protect, let goodness save you…do not let them break you. That was how we have always survived._ The world pod sung to them from inside. The last remaining heart of the goodness of their people. But the odd sounds and smells of the chamber that the Nova officers placed them in did little to ease their mind.

 

“What the hell is that?” A human voice wondered. Groot bent downward as the black screen before them lifted and they could see the odd people in the uniforms. _Not from Halfworld!_ They momentarily rejoiced.

 

“They call it Groot,” a second man answered. “A humanoid tree that’s been traveling around recently as 89P13’s personal house plant slash muscle.” Before they could touch the thin stainless material the black curtain came down again and Groot was escorted roughly from the room. The guards grabbing at their tender re-growing limbs.

 

“Transport all four of them to the Klyn.” _Another prison,_ the wood god summarized as they were bound once more. in exorbitant terror fled through them as they were shoved from the holding cell to the transport ship. _So small…so many guards who do not talk and do not want to engage._ Groot eyed the sixteen guards, who surrounded them. They clutched their weapons and looked warily from the green skinned woman to the human to them.

 

“You laugh at me one more time,” Rocket snarled, “and I’ll shoot your eyes out!”

 

“I am Groot!” _It’s not worth it!_ They tried to warn. The raccoonoid’s head whipped around, those bright firey eyes burning. _Not worth it to taunt them! They will only hurt you!_ Rocket bared his fangs. _Sweat, terror masked behind anger. Vitriol._ The wood god could sense it from their companion, but Rocket conceded. He leaned back against the vibrating metal of the ship. _So loud, clanking, so much metal everywhere. No! It’s not Halfworld, not Halfworld. Not Halfworld._ The fiery pain in their mind and heart made the wood god shrivel in fear as they flew. _Carving, laughing, chains, iron and metal._ Every time they closed their eyes, each thrust and shake of the ship they could see the images of the labs. Their cell, _Lylla crumbled and in pain. Her goodness snuffed out by such misery. Unable to stand it._ Tears of sap pressed behind Groot’s eyes as they continued along. Beside them the human man thought this little else but a minor inconvenience. _So hot,  and cramped! Need sky! So musky and full of false things!_ They strained at their shackles.

 

“I am Groot!” Groot cried out as the nearest guard came forward, butting him roughly with a sharp spear. “I am Groot!”

 

“Hey!” Rocket wriggled on his other side, ears pinned downward. “Leave the damn stick alone pal! He ain’t the one who’s gonna blast your k’nards off!” The man turned,

 

“I warn you rodent!” Rocket grimaced, _humiliation._ The raccoonoid’s chittering laughter brought Groot from their searing pain. “Oh you warn me?” He taunted. “Warn me? Hahahahaah…aaahhh!” Groot gaped, burning fur wafting through their nose.

 

“Man c’mon!” The human man shouted, “he’s just a little guy don’t hurt him!”

 

“You mind your own business!” Another guard shouted. Groot glared at him but subtly grew a small vine out their back, reaching it over to Rocket who blinked and shifted away at the attempt of comfort.

 

“I’m fine you idiot, just stay quiet and neither of us’ll get shocked again.” Groot nodded. This klyn place couldn’t be worse than what was already behind them, could it? Lights flashed on and off, on and off. The flora colossus winced, groaning in fear as the ship began to descend. With no windows to the outside they felt themselves all the more trapped in a discombobulated container. They listened for the emotions of the others in the absence of anymore chatter. The green woman was _not afraid_ , the man _reckless and determined to get out_ , Rocket _furious and fearful_. Groot bristled as they were escorted from the ship, sparing themselves a breath of dark crisp air before being pushed behind the others into a long dark, metal hallway. Horror sunk into their vines, _A different Halfworld? Not possible…?!_ The flora colossus followed as they stomped across the threshold of a metal doorway and down another corridor. _Sweat and feces and violence everywhere._ Groot did not hear the rest of the exchange, preoccupied with the clanking and flashing lights all around.

 

“Well he don’t know talkin’ good like me and you,” Rocket explained. “So, his vocabulistics are limited to ‘I and am and Groot,’ exclusively in that order.” _Vocabulary isn’t limited,_ they brimmed with frustration. _All the planets we’ve been on and still no one understands?_ They thought despondent. _No time for self-pity, we must get out of here._


	18. Chapter 18

“Put this on,” the strange, foul smelling alien thrusted Groot a bundle of yellow garments. “Didn’t have a shirt big enough,” the green one told the fellow officer. The wood god had been in enough prisons by now to recognize the higher-ranking officials compared to the guards, who were usually no better-in fact many times worse-than the inmates themselves. Their staring eyes examined the flora colossus like the scientists on Halfworld. _Appraising, trying to find how best to hurt us, where to tear and rip...searching for vulnerability._

“I am Groot!” Groot protested, handing the yellow clothing back.

 “That’s all it’s been saying,” the guard scoffed. “Just ‘I am Groot’ over and over again. Really starts to grate on the nerves.” Groot watched the man pull a strange object from his sleeve, long and pointed. _What does it…_ sharp stinging pain split through the delicate soft tissue of their cambium and xylem, Groot screamed clutching the metal grates of the wall for support.

 “Put those on, now!” The guard ordered, Groot whimpered, trying to hold up a defensive arm. Visceral glares bore into the wood god, _freak, monster. If only we could make them understand,_ they thought with a sniff. Shooting pain ripped through them again. Groot cowered, sliding down to the floor. _Cold and stiff._  “NOW!”

 “I am Groot!” They watched with trepidation as the man rose his arm once more, “I am Groot!” _This cannot happen, won’t be hurt again!_ With tact Groot grew out his arm, grabbing the man’s wrist and twisting. _Snap!_

 “Aahah!” Before the officer could lunge the wood god reached for him with the other arm and flung him down, wincing at the thud of the impact.

 “A…alright,” Groot turned to guard, feeling his nimble fingers pry at his bark. “You don’t have to wear the clothes.” The flora colossus nodded, _good, that’s better._ With a guilty satisfaction Groot allowed themselves to be shoved through for assessment. Though they did not enjoy the steaming orange liquid that burned their bark and instantly evaporated the good dark soil in the crevasses of their bark. They thrashed against the bars, trying to grow their vines through the walls to grab at the guards. A sharp jab poked them in their hand,

 “Keep it up and we’ll throw you in solitary!” _Solitary?_ Groot wondered, grunting at the hard hands which shoved them into the large center of the prison. _Urine, blood, gunpowder, anger, aggression, the need for blood. Such sor-_

“There you are you idiot!” Rocket scolded, falling in line beside him, the human man walked ahead, and Groot bristled at the green woman’s eyes clearly following them from behind, though they could sense her unease as the prisoners around them shouted their abuses.

  _Not so bad,_ Groot tried to tell themselves as they settled into an empty cell. After they and Rocket established themselves to the other prisoners, shoving their fingers up that strange alien’s nose, most of the other inmates had left them alone. Rocket had insisted on keeping close to their bounty, and Groot agreed it was best to stay in close proximity as not to lose their prize.

But they made Rocket promise not to inflict any bodily harm on their bounty. They tried to relax as the doors sealed shut, _He’ll be alright. He’s broken out of enough prisons, he’ll get us out._ Sure, enough the next morning, the wood god was right. They half listened to their friend’s half-formed plan, more interested in the strange gelatinous yellow concoction that the cook heaped on to their plate. _What was it? So many new things!_ They poked their finger into it as they followed the green woman and the human man, whose names they were pretty sure were Quill and Gamora.

 “….on the wall back there there’s a blinky yellow light with a Quarnex battery behind it,” Rocket explained. Groot turned, looking at the large watch tower and smiled, _that’s easy enough to get! Yes, help Rocket. Help us get out of here!_ They approached it rather nonchalant and grew upward, reaching out towards the happy light. Groot tugged, _still won’t come loose!_ They frowned and pulled once more, smiling as the spindly chords snapped and popped.

 BEEP, BEEP! BEEP BEEP! _Lights, flashing, commotion. Where is that noise?_ Groot looked wildly around finally seeing Peter, Gamora and Rocket who turned to him in confusion. The wood good beamed, holding the battery out to Rocket.

 “Or we can just get it first and improvise!” The smile faded quickly from Groot’s face as they heard the loud ominous voice of the guard.

 “Prisoner! Get back to your cell or we will open fire!” _Odd contraptions, surrounding, they have guns on them….pain, searing bark. Halfworld. No! Will not be hurt!_ Fury at all of their indignities roused within them, the world pod in their chest churned unseen. The source of all life left, the hope of their planet’s renewal. _Must keep it safe, must keep Rocket and the others safe!_ Groot squared their stance, _behold, we are a god of the wood once feared!_

 “I. AM. GROOOOT!!”

 “Fire!”

 The wood good threw their arms up against the reign of bullets that grazed against their bark, they flung out their arm, smashing one of the strange contraptions colliding with the ground and exploding. _Hot, flames! Sparks, get away! Smoke, choking smoke! Leave!_  Groot winced at the sharp pain as they spun in a dizzied circle of everyone who ran, scrambling for safety or brawling on the floor.

 “You idiot!” Rocket screamed into their ear over the bombastic explosions of the fire. _Threat!_ The wood god grew a large wall of branches that took the worst of the bullets, _so much noise! So many weapons! So much violence….but we must….in order to get free. To protect. Like how we got free._

 “Creepy little beast!” Groot growled at another one of the guns and thrashed, sending sharp thorns through it until it crashed to the ground. The gun arched through the air, they felt Rocket lean forward to catch it. _Euphoria, adrenaline!_

“Oh, yeah.”  BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG! Blasting rounds sounded off and Groot whirled around, _unstoppable!_ Excitement vibrated through them as they took down another one of the guns, their enamored thrill fueled by the frantic tambour of the entire prison that has descended into madness. Guns sounded every which way though the flora colossus could not determine which direction it came from. “Groot to the watch tower!” The flora colossus lumbered forward, smiling a satisfied grin at the _crunch_ and breaking metal of one of the guns. They grew once more, striving to grow as tall as they could and resisted the urge to giggle as Rocket scrambled up their elongated arms, followed quickly by the human man. Through the roaring and grunting of the melee the wood god heaved themselves up, following the lead of the others. _No time for this,_ they thought, reaching their arms out and casually throwing the officer out of the top of the tower. Once in, the flora colossus scrutinized the bunch of them, save for Rocket who hurriedly fumbled with the controls. _Why is the green woman here? And the odd tattooed alien?_  

 “I recognize this animal,” he spoke even amidst the yelling of the officers and the gunfire outside. “We used to roast them over the fire to the shoulder, their flesh is quite delicious.” _Delicious, eating?_ Groot shot the burly alien a warning look, though one rock of the tower was enough to snap them all back to the true matters at hand.

 “Rodent we are ready for your plan!”

 “Hold on!” Groot watched the angry animal tinker with the controls, wincing at the blast of the second round of guns. _Glass cracking….it will shatter…this plan won’t work! No…no have faith in Rocket who knows metal and wires and un-natural things. It is his gift, his specialty. He knows, trust. Trust._  The flora colossus teetered, trying to grow their roots into the floor as the top section of the tower lifted off in an uneasy acescent. _Warmth, lifting, he did it! Pride. Joy._ They watched the usually angry creature grunt with determination as their makeshift craft was propelled through the air, downward nearly crashing into the floor of the prison. _Like the ship we stole after escaping!_ Groot remembered with panicked grip on their vines.

 “Told you I had a plan!” Rocket defended his scheme. _Wants approval, wants acceptance and respect,_ Groot smiled, pride still inflating in their chest. _Free once more!_ Uncertainty as well as happiness filled the wood gods proverbial heart. Certainly the worse was behind them.   _But where there is good and light, there will always be darkness and wanton destruction,_ this they knew, was the only certain thing.


	19. Chapter 19

_Oh how Halfworld had changed them,_ the secret knowledge of it threatened to destroy the world pod churning inside them. What new threat, what new pain? So much dirty filth, so much hopelessness. Groot observed, sniffing the dirt and grime of those who ran through the streets of Knowhere. The robbed figures passing by, the acrid scent of burning matter, it was not dissimilar to the chemicals of the operating room at Halfworld. Their bark bristled, even as they gazed around in fascination.  _This place is so crowded, no room to breathe._  They looked down, following Rocket, Gamora, Peter and Drax through the alleys. _At least no one is staring…_ they tried to console themselves.

“Watch your wallets,” the human man instructed as a group of ruffian children scampered through. Groot halted, feeling the curious stare of the humanoid girl.  _Hannah?_ Hope swelled within them only to falter a bit as they beheld the blonde-haired girl.  _Sweet, precious, desperate…yet unbroken by the world._ They saw it reflected in her expectant eyes and smiled themselves, reaching out their hand and growing a flower from their palm. A simple, well-intentioned thing. They plucked it with a smile before reaching it out to her,  _a gift for you, may it remind you of sunshine and happiness and tranquil places in this chaotic messy galaxy._ The power of Planet X turned in their chest, sensing the goodness of the girl. She blinked, smiling and gently took the flower in her nimble fingers. Groot’s own grin widened, at last standing and following the others, the hectic mayhem of the slum somewhat fettered.

“What are we supposed to do while we wait?” The large tattooed alien demanded. Something about an orb and someone who wanted it. The wood god was indifferent,  _someone always wanted something in the galaxy._ Drax wanted revenge, Quill wanted his mother, Gamora wanted freedom, Rocket wanted acceptance. As usual, they found themselves at a bar.

“Three shots of grevel!” Drax demanded, threatening the bar tender with his knives when he did not pay for the beverages. Rocket watched the threatening display with jealousy and amusement. “Here!” Groot accepted the small glass that was thrusted into their grip as Drax made his way over to a table of other aliens who cheered at a game. Groot motioned for Rocket to follow; the creature’s body shied away from the shins of an alien at the bar, hands reaching for his gun.  _He is scared…so small…_ Rocket snarled as a large tentacle like appendage shoved him forward.

“Move, rodent!”

“I am Groot!” Groot barked at the rude patron.  _Protect._ The alien’s large eyes stared at them, then awkwardly stumbled away through the bar. Rocket grunted, ears flattened as he pulled himself up on a stool to watch the orloni race. Groot stood beside him, looming over.  _New creatures!_ Excitement revved through them watching as one large creature chased a smaller one through a series of obstacles. The large orloni burst forward and bit the smaller one’s tail, throwing it up in the air. Groot watched in abject horror as the large orloni devoured the smaller one.

“Yes! My orloni wins!” Drax announced to the deliberated, cheering crowds. “As I win at all things! Now let us put more of this liquid into our bodies!” He hoisted the cup above and downed it in a single gulp.

“That’s the first thing you’ve said that wasn’t bat shit crazy!” Rocket cackled, sloshing his own beverage. Groot sniffed at the smell of alcohol.  _Sharp, stinging…swabs, the cool tingling liquid seeps into the bark before the cutting starts._ They stood, leaving the last of the drink to Rocket who leapt at the chance to pick it up and swallow it hole. He is drowning. D _rowning …the past._

“I am Groot?” The flora colossus asked, watching Drax pull himself up and follow them.

“Why do you only say those three words?” The angry brute demanded, Groot turned,  _why do you not bother to understand?_  “You are an idiot brute,” Drax marveled in amazement, fist hit against their bark. Reflexively the wood god grew a sprig of thorns, growling.  _Do not hurt! Please! Leave be!_ Groot shoved him off, searching for a way out of the crowded bar. T _oo many people, no room to grow or breathe! Alcohol, smoke, sweat, urine…vomit…metal floor…iron seats…Halfworld!_

“Hey!” Rocket’s snarl brought Groot’s gaze to the ground, watching as the raccoonoid tossed back another drink he had lifted from the alien who lay slumped over the bar. “No one calls him an idiot but me!” Drax huffed,

“I will not be told what I can and cannot say by some vermin.” Groot reeled with disgust at the alien’s dismissal of Rocket. He brushed past him, shoving him. The raccoonoid grunted falling forward, the wood god flinched at the sound of his friend hitting the ground. “Yah sure your wife and child were murdered?” Rocket growled, standing once more. Drax halted,  _tension. Ready to burst._ “Maybe your ole’ wife decided to hit the road. I would.” The alien whirled, storming past Groot to face Rocket down.

“How dare you?!”  _Such sorrow, such rage…_ it sloughed off him like broken bones. The wood god could sense his suffering, and the very little restraint he was having to not wring Rocket’s neck. Evidently, the raccoonoid was only further tempted. His muzzle twisted into that self-satisfied smirk Groot had seen all too often.  _Rocket don’t…_

“Oh, I dare!” He scoffed, “look at you you’re a mess! You…” Drax swung, grabbing Rocket by the belt of his suit and threw him into the belligerent crowd.  _Protect him!_

“I am Groot!”  _How dare you! Do not disrespect him! So hurt…we’ve all been so hurt…why would you inflict more?_ The strong man’s lack of compassion made the flora colossus spark with anger. In a flash they reached out their arm, wrapping it around the man’s burly arm and yanked him forward. Apologize! Drax’s face contorted in rage and Groot had not time to duck before the large fist slammed into his bark, sending their vision spinning.

“Hey!” Rocket grunted, from somewhere the flora colossus could not determine. Groot staved off another blow from the maniac and ran at them just in time throwing him to the ground with brute strength. Drax’s blows hammered against their head. Groot grew vines from his torso, wrapping around the tattooed alien’s neck. He twisted, grunting as he broke free. Out of the corner of their eye they spied Rocket, trying to heave his gun upward. C _heering, anticipation…these people want a fight…_

“Hey!” Out of nowhere Gamora wrenched Drax off of Groot. “Stop it!” The flora colossus stood, setting their jaw with a painful creek.

“Hey what are you doing?!” Quill stammered, stepping between the raccoonoid and the widower.  _He wants to understand…wants to make it better…_ Groot felt from the human.  _A goodness he doesn’t truly know how to embrace._

“This vermin speaks of things he knows nothing about!” Drax shouted, spittle flying.

“That is true!” Rocket lifted his gun, eyes narrowing with tears that could’ve stained Groot’s own bark.

“He has no respect!”

“That is also true!”  _So tense…the air…it is heavy…with alcohol and unexpressed emotions. There was nothing to root down into, no sunlight. The only water here was tainted._  The wood good watched Rocket rigid with rage.

“Hold on! Hold on!” Quill placated,

“Keep callin’ me a vermin tough guy!” Rocket hissed through repressed tears, “you just wanna laugh at me like everyone else!” Groot sank with despair for Rocket who stood so small and outcast even among outcasts.

“Rocket your drunk, alright? No one’s laughing at you!” Quill tried to reason, a good effort on his part. But Groot only shook their head.  _They do laugh…they’ve always laughed…they mock with their stares and their disregard for our pain…_ the wood god felt their vines twist within them. Baring witness to such pain… _how can I make him understand? That he is worthy of  tenderness? How can I convince him he is not alone? Love, empathy, compassion._

“He thinks I’m some stupid thing he does!” Rocket gestured, “well I didn’t ask to get made!” Groot bit their bark, the words boring into their own wood and splintering.  _Never asked to be tortured and bent…would he have rather never been made? Would I rather have been left alone on Planet X?_  New questions pricked at them with unease. “I didn’t ask to be torn apart, put back together all over and over…” Rocket choked back the years of unshed years. “…and turned into some…some little monster,” they whispered at last, deflated. Isolation, loneliness…even with me…so insecure…in so much pain. Groot twisted with sympathy, knowing Rocket would not want him to interfere in this moment though they longed to do so. _Sometimes you cannot always protect…_.they thought. Like  _Lylla….like Rocket’s misery…_.it threatened to shrivel them. So powerless…even with the world pod.  _So powerless to ease the pain…why?_

“Rocket no one’s calling you a monster!” Quill tried.

“He called me vermin!” Rocket’s withered heart clenched to even say the word aloud. “She called me rodent! Let’s see if you can laugh after five or six good shots to your friggin face!” Rocket lifted his gun and Groot made to start forward,  _…must make it better._  But they stopped, seeing it was Quill who had already spoke.

“No, no, no, four billion units! Rocket! C’mon man, suck it up for one more lousy night and your rich!”  Groot watched Rocket, exhausted and irreproachable.  _So tired of being lonely…..misunderstood. Like a bramble among trees._ You can do this Rocket, they thought watching the raccoonoid’s eyes dart around the floor in embarrassed indecision. _Please friend, do not choose violence. It will be alright…you are worthy of love._

“Fine…” Rocket breathed, lowering his weapon. “But I can’t promise when all this is over I’m not gonna kill every last one of you jerks.”  _An empty threat, Groot_  beamed in pride even as Drax shouted and stormed off.  _We do not need his negativity,_  the wood god waved him off. Even as a strange woman entered the bar and called for them, Groot followed Rocket closely.  _Pride, growth.  He can be more then violent…he can…this proves it. The beauty of flowers isn’t dependent on their color or their petals but the fact that they are able to flourish amid the thorns._


	20. Chapter 20

_Pulsing, twisting, anxiety, where did they come from? Where are their homeworlds?_ These were the questions that the great world pod within them whispered in its own sort of way as Groot passed through the hallowed halls of the collector’s lab. Beside them Rocket’s ears pressed downward against his head, hair on his neck on end as he growled at a strange creature dressed in a space suit. _He is just as terrified as I am._ The wood god kept close while they walked, and appraised the collector equally as he greeted Gamora. I _nauthentic pleasantries….scheming…looking to make a…_ Groot stopped, freezing in the collectors gaze. The man approached them slowly, the wood god following him with careful eyes. _Ready to flee if I must…ready to fight…if it comes to that…_

“What, is that thing there?” The collector pondered, baffled.

“I am Groot,” Groot responded. Let him understand….

“I never thought I’d meet a Groot, sir. You must allow me to pay you now so that I may own your carcass,” the collector paused, considering. “At the moment of your death of course.” It would make little difference,

“I am Groot,” the wood god nodded. Rocket stiffened,

“Why?! So he can turn you into a freaking chair?” Groot shrugged, but could not help feeling a warm spread through their proverbial heart at the raccoonoid’s words. Laced with protectiveness and concern. The collector glanced down at Rocket, lips pursed in amusement.

“That’s your pet?” The flora colossus shook their head in dismay.

“WHAT?!” The raccoonoid’s small paws reached behind his back for his gun in indignant rage. _Don’t….Rocket…it’s alright,_ they placated. Their friend glared up at them but gave up the effort to cause a fight to their relief. Groot followed the rest of them, as the collector resumed his attention to the odd orb. He began to tell the story of how these strange objects, “infinity stones,” were created. But it was of little consequences to Groot. _All that is made is unmade, everything is a circle. Power, time, reality, these are all just concepts created by lesser beings of the universe,_ they thought as the collector recited his impassioned monologue. Of all of them, Rocket seemed the least impressed, fidgeting uncomfortably.   _Just concepts created by lesser beings trying to establish some control over the uncontrollable. Some way to make tangible those things which cannot be contained._ But Groot’s eyes did widen as they watched planets be destroyed, mowed down like fields of wheat. Unconsciously putting a protective hand to their own chest, to safeguard the world pod that was inside them. _If this infinity stone is so powerful and I have the world pod…maybe I could restore X?_

 Possibilities ran through their imagination, so much so that they did realize the girl reaching for the stone. Heat…danger…get away!  Groot sailed through the air, hot power erupting from the poor girl. A life shattered, they could feel it even as they crashed, purple fire raving through the lab. Where’s Rocket?! They got to their feet as fast as possible, swiping at the smoke to try and make out the raccoonoid.

“I am Groot?!”

“Urgh,” the raccoonoid’s nervous groan beckoned the flora colossus. They ran, scooping the animal up into their arms, I am sorry. It seemed to make no difference to Rocket who only covered his ears against the pop-popping of the explosions. Groot dashed through the halls, bark scrapping against metal as the hot smoke closed in. Every fiber within them screaming to flee away. They ducked, bracing for the pain as glass shards shredded through their bark. They ran, lumbering through and out into the chaotic streets pursued by the hot ball of purple fire, threatening to blow them away. Rocket squirmed in their hold, Must protect him! With their spare arm Groot reached to stabilize their friend, pulling him close to their body just in time before the ground left their feet. They sailed through the air, shoved forward by that unseen force that tore at metal and iron with an excruciating r _iiip. Fire…trees burning…earth upturned…trees uprooted…the end of another world? Too much! Too much destruction…too much fire and power…why? WHY?_ They would have cried to whatever gods there were. But there were none at all. Only them. _They were a wood god, were they not?_ Groot crashed into the hard earth, Rocket’s small body shaking but there beside them. The ringing in their bark did not stop, inflaming at the heat that surrounded them. The sap inside of them bubbled, _get up! Must rise…must rise!_ That power within them beckoned, giving them the strength to stand and look around. _Voices, people, running but alive…air…yes…dirt…yes. It’s alright. It’s alright,_ they reassured themselves looking down for Rocket but the raccoonoid was already up, dusting himself off though he had not ceased his shaking.

 “C’mon! We gotta find Quill!” Groot took off after him as he ran back towards the shattered door. “What do you still have it for?!” Rocket demanded once Quill and Gamora emerged to Groot’s delight. They listened as the human and raccoonoid and the green woman bickered over the fate of the orb, Quill coming to some decision that displeased Gamora. _They could give it to me…_ Groot imagined, I _would use it to regrow Planet X and even Vidan. All the planets that needed nourishment!_ Excitement whirled in them even as they sensed danger approaching. _Laughter?_ Groot turned, it was Drax. _He was taunting the incoming ship, why?! Tension, violence, unchecked rage….danger…_

“Quill! You stop right there boy!”

“Gamora has the orb!” _So many words! What do they mean_? Groot spun, trying to make sense of the commotion. _Running this way and that…where is Quill? Gamora? Rocket?! Gun shots! Screams, running! Smoke!_ Knowhere spun around in incomprehensible chaos. The wood god grunted, trying to make his way through the crowds, falling over themselves, violence, destruction, self-righteousness. Groot turned, _so that is Ronan…._ their bark curled and knotted at the sight of him. T _his force…so much like the one that wiped out Planet X….the same darkness that corrupted the arbor masters._

Groot felt themselves become hollow, the world pod within them seemed to tremble and even as they were forced to follow Rocket and the rest of them away. _We must stop him….he will wipe out the galaxy….destroy all life. That is…it_ it dawned on them even as they tried to politely move people aside, _that is more important than restoring Planet X._ Groot halted before a row of mining pods.

 “I am Groot!” Groot called, following Rocket as he unlocked the pod,

“You can’t fit!” He snapped, fiddling with his gun. More shots rang out and the wood god ducked, curling their long fingers ready to strike if they must.

 “I am Groot!” No! Stay, not safe! Must stay! More important to guard the infinity stone then restore X!

“I told you, you can’t fit! Now stay here, I’ll be back!” Groot reached out trying to hinder Rocket but the pod door slammed shut and the wood god watched in nervous apprehension as the ship lifted off.

“Nebula,” Ronan spoke, turning his back even as Drax swung at him. “retrieve the orb.” Groot watched as the tattooed alien fought in a frenzy, each move countered or blocked. Ronan besting him at every turn. _Get away! No! Cannot flee!_ Groot willed themselves to watch, glancing upward at the fleet of fighting pods. Rocket…dread tugged at them feeling the heat of gunfire and smoke. So much danger! The wood god feigned, gasping in horror as Drax was flung past them. Red sap dripping from his side, Ronan approached, his malice contagious. Groot shrank against the wall reaching their roots down into the soil as Ronan spoke.

“I don’t recall killing your family,” he taunted, cruelty dripping from each breath. Drax coughed, desperately trying to remain conscious. _He’s so weary….Ronan…so powerful…_ “I doubt I’ll remember killing you either.”  Groot watched conflicted even as they remained in hiding. Ronan dragged the tattooed man towards one of the vats of liquid, carelessly dumping him in. Wait…not yet…Groot watched the pod doors close and lift off before slowly approaching the basin, growing their vines out and fishing Drax from within. Y _es the brute had insulted Rocket and themselves, but he did not deserve to die. He's still alive,_ relief swept through the wood god as he deposited Drax on the ground, growing a sharp twig out from their finger and punctured the alien’s lung. They grinned, even as Drax wretched, eyes widening in shock. _Clank! Clunk!_ The wood god turned as one of the pods crashed to the ground. _Rocket!_ They steadied Drax who tried to rouse himself.

 “Blasted idiot!” The cursing raccoonoid fumed as the pod door swung open. “They’re all idiots!” He jumped down, indignation and resentment already sparking from him. “Quill just got himself captured! None of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t single handedly decided to take on a friggin army!” Rocket pointed accusatorially Drax. Groot tightened their grip on the man, easy Rocket please. _You deserve tenderness…but so does he._

“You’re right…” Drax murmured, speaking of his rage and of his pain that Groot could feel emanating from his very flesh. “All the anger…all the rage,…just to cover my loss.” The wood god nodded, gazing down at him with pity. _H_ e i _s not so different from us…_ they thought placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“Oh bo ho, ho, my wife and child are dead!” Rocket’s mocking seared Groot’s heart. _No…Rocket….do not hurt him so. How could you be so cruel? You are better then that, I know it._ The disappointment rocked them, and they gasped horrified at the raccoonoid lack of empathy. “Everybody’s got dead people! It’s not excuse to get everyone else dead along the way!” _Lylla…_ Groot realized with a chill. “C’mon Groot,” he gestured, “Ronan has the stone. The only chance we have is to get to the other side of the universe as fast as we can,” he conspired; “and maybe, just maybe we’ll be able to live full lives before that wack-job ever gets there!”

 _No. No more running,_ they decided, feeling the power of their people within them. The last vestige of the glory of the wood gods. And they were a wood god. It was their duty to guard and to protect, more important than X, or Xandar, or any one planet.

 “I am Groot!”

“Save them?!” Rocket’s ears pricked, eyes glaring. “How?”

“I am Groot!” Groot insisted, _we must do what is right. We cannot run. My planet is lost…but my purpose is not…neither is yours. Not violence or weaponry. That is the purpose those scientists in Halfworld, and anyone who’s ever met you, or me, has thought. That’s all they think we are. Anomalies, dangers. Monsters. But we have the chance to do something. To do something for the greater galaxy. You can do it, I know you can. We can do it, together. Hope, light, joy! Regrowth! The true majesty of the Groots, of all living things!_ And Rocket was a living thing, despite his own doubts and mind that he was a mechanized monster. He was not. Groot knew that, had known it since the day they met that sad, broken little thing with half a name.

“I am Groot,” _Ro…._

“But there’s an army of ravagers around them!” He dug his heals in, “and there’s only two of us!” _Fear._  

“Three,” Groot steadied, feeling Drax’s large hand touch their shoulder. Rocket groaned, ears flat with stubbornness. The wood god watched him turn, claws curling and shoulders hunched.

 “Uuuuurrrrgghhhh! You’re….making….me…” he kicked at the patch of dirt before them, “beat…up grass!” But Groot only smiled already knowing Rocket’s ultimate decision. _It is time to get our friends back, it is time to get back that orb…time to guard what is good in the galaxy._ Radiant light filled them as they made their way to the ship, for the first time in a long time Groot felt themselves as they were before the terrors of Halfworld. T _he corruption of their elders, destruction of their planet and the experiments at the lab had changed them yes, but not completely. Love, selflessness, hope, the will to hold light even in the dark…that is what makes things grow._ As Rocket schemed a plan, Groot saw a brighter dawn ahead.


	21. Chapter 21

Like most things about the Flora Colossi, little is known. Many a scholar across the galaxy has speculated as to their biology but no one knows for sure how they breed, nor is much known about their cultural ways. We do not know if they have a religion, seeing as they were practically gods themselves it is speculated that they simply did not comprehend things just as life, death or the meaning therein. We have no inkling to their personal beliefs or if they even recognized such personhood in themselves or each other. Wood gods, as they are referred to across the galaxy seem to be, for all records that we have, beings untouched by such things that mortals ponder. Their place in the cosmos existed before most creation, and we can speculate that they were confident they would remain long after most of it was destroyed. A tragedy then, that they were wrong.  

Groot beamed, embracing Quill in a tight hug. _Back! Rocket’s plan worked! Back safe and sound!_ _T_ hey turned next to Gamora and put a single hand on her shoulder, squeezing lightly. She offered them a small smile. _Reluctant to show emotion,_ They realized sadly. _Does not want to get attached, lest she have to hurt me later…_ _but the wood god did not hold this against her. Growth was growth, even if it was twisted and gnarled._

 _“You call that figured it out?!” Rocket demanded as Quill and Gamora made their way into the ship. Groot only continued to beam at them, taking a seat. We should get away from these ravagers as soon as possible._ _Though they could not sense any immediate danger from their companions captures, they’d rather not stick around for it to change.  “We we’re only gonna blow you up, if they didn’t turn you over!” The raccoonoid defended to the human, Groot looked from them to Drax, who’s gaze wondered far off in the distance. Gamora paced between them all, calculating, planning._ _“This is what we get for acting altruistically!”_

_“I am Groot,” the flora colossus put in, Rocket nodded._

_“What’s important now is that we get the ravagers army to help us save Xandar!” Gamora interjected, Groot watched her anxious eyes. She is trying to atone for what she’s done,_ _they admired. She thinks that by saving Xandar…she can save a part of herself._ _He believed it possible and grinned in recognition._

 _“I have a plan!” The human announced, Groot could feel Rocket’s doubt sloughing off his small body in waves. Rocket you must have faith…trust others…_

_“What percentage?”_

_“I don’t know….12%?” The wood god felt their chest inflate with joviality at Rocket’s seldom heard laughter._

_“I am Groot,” they tried for Peter’s sake. The raccoonoid scoffed,_

_“So what it’s better than 12% what the hell does that have to do with anything?” It is something, and at the moment we don’t have much else._ _But Rocket ignored them as Quill wracked his brain for some hopeful way out of this mess. Though Groot themselves pondered it, there didn’t seem to be any viable solution._

 _We must get the orb…Gamora is right…must save Xandar…_ _unease twirled within them. ….what if…Hannah…_ _the thought occurred to them suddenly making the world pod jolt within them. Hannah could be on Xandar…could be anywhere…saving this planet…saving all life,_ _they reminded themselves and remembered her frightened face._

 _“Yondu’s going to be here in two seconds! He expects to hear this big plan of ours!” Groot looked around at them, leaves without branches._ _Lost in the winds of their circumstance. Dread…hopelessness….fear….hope…_ _emotions lifted from each of them and the wood god longed to speak reassurance, but they wouldn’t understand._ _Luckily, Quill spoke for them. “Usually life takes more than it gives,” he said addressing each of them. Hope! Purpose!_ _“But not today…today it’s giving us a chance!”_

 _“To do what?” Drax inquired, doubtful, bewildered._ _Groot could sense the destroyer’s sadness now turned cautiously to fragile possibility. Quill took a deep breath,_

_“To give a shit,” his wavering voice was not lost on the flora colossus who nodded in agreement._

_“But Quill,” Rocket’s small voice whispered from the shadows. “Stopping Ronan…that’s impossible….you’re asking us to die.” Trepidation…insecurity…lack of self-worth. Survival, instincts._ _Groot gazed at their friend, we can do it Rocket…you must believe in yourself!_

 _“Yeah…I guess I am,” Quill whispered, turning his back though he was not resolute to giving up. Not yet. The flora colossus looked at Rocket in the moments of silence. Stoping Ronan, saving this stone…protecting Xandar…guarding the galaxy Rocket! Everything those scientists in Halfwould would never have imagined!_ _Yet their friend’s impenetrable rancor was not easily dismissed. Not even as Gamora stood, speaking of her gladness to die among friends for which the wood god could not help a twinge of pride. Drax too stood up, content to do what must be done. The wood good stood,_

 _“I am Groot,” the legacy of my people was once great heralds of vivacious living things and guards to them. We became corrupt and sowed destruction while we tried to protect life. For that we were destroyed…but no longer. The world pod within me is the power of rebirth, as long as I grow, I will protect so that all may go on living._ _Quill’s approving gaze warmed the wood god even more then the pod of which they spoke. They turned then, beholding Rocket. Sullen and reluctant and bewildered at those before him. He can hardly believe such selflessness. He must see it as foolish,_ _Groot could almost grin. Come on now Rocket….what would Lylla do?_ _The raccoonoid starred at them, then the others and back to the wood god once more. Groot waited and watched their friend make a dramatic sigh._

_“What the hell, I don’t got that long a life span anyway.”_

_\---_

_“Oh no,” Rocket seethed, “don’t you dare get cold feet on me now, you’re the one who dragged me into this mess!” Their friend accused in the few moments of preparation they had before the battle._

 _“I am Groot!” Don’t want to leave you…_ _Rocket was so small, and while the wood god had been wittness to the raccoonoid’s more than capable fighting skills, this was different._

_“I’ll be fine man,” Rocket busied himself with his gun. He is afraid…._ _slowly Groot reached out a hand, placing it tentatively on the warm fur. Rocket flinched, large wide eyes staring at them for a moment. After all this time his instinct is still that he will be hurt by touch._ _The knowledge of it split Groot’s bark, but even so Rocket didn’t move away. In fact, he approached Groot and looked at him, eyes softening. A small paw patted against their bark._

_“I’m gonna be fine. We’re both gonna be fine.”_

_“I am Groot….” Groot wondered in dismay, visions of fire and chemicals burning through their mind. Rocket frowned,_

 _“Who’s Hannah? Whatever, once all this is over we’ll have enough money to go find her, what you say?” Thank you…_ _Rocket’s consorted efforts at consoling them were deeply appreciated and Groot felt moisture prick their eyes._

_“I am Groot?”_

_“Sure, we can go back to Planet X, wait didn’t you tell me it was destroyed?”_

_“I am Groot!” Their hand gripped Rocket’s tightly, we go together! We fight together!_ _The raccoonoid glared though it lacked much gumption._

 _“It’s gonna be okay a’right?” Fragile bravery._ _Groot nodded and squeezed Rocket’s small paw. For a moment they sat there in each other’s gaze. Words unspoken, emotions unfelt. Closeted compassion, worry…determination…love._

_“Rocket! Groot! Let’s go!” Quill’s shout shattered the moment as Rocket let his paw slip away and holstered his weapon. As usual, Groot fell in step beside him._

_\---_

The wood god watched, bark clenching with each hit against the Milano. Before them the sakarian pilots fired. _Dizzy…so dizzying…we’re so far from the earth!_ They tried to set aside their worries as the ship pitched and bounced, moving ever closer to the Dark Aster. _Where is Rocket?!_ They strained to look once more through the haze of smoke and explosions, each downed ship sending a chill through their bark.

“We’re here!” Gamora called, lifting from her seat as the ship landed with a clunking thud. _The Dark Aster…_ Groot realized, following them out of the shield of the Milano and into the unknown. _Riled anticipation….anxiety…bewilderment…this place….so full of metal and violence…like Halfworld. Like Loneliness…this ship contains nothing but malice…_ Groot pondered with a frown as they walked.

“I cannot see a thing!” Drax bemoaned. The wood god looked around, _we must try to bring light! Even to the darkest of places!_ With that they knew what to do and unfurled their long arm, sending energy from the world pod within them, outward, willing its power to emanate out. Their gasps rang as small spores of light drifted upward, illuminating the ship’s dank hall.

“Where did you learn that?” Drax whispered, Groot only watched their spores float upward and outward, coating everything in their own light. They did not even startle when Nebula threatened Gamora, nor when Drax blasted the cyborg. Though the wood god’s bines twisted in pity for the broken creature. Even though she sought to cause them harm. _Why is it that the most broken of creatures fight so viciously against one another? Only together can we truly heal…if we were to all come together…_ dreams deferred.   

“Star Lord,” the wood god turned at the malicious noise, only to see Quill beam with pride.

“Finally!” the melee erupted before Groot’s shocked eyes, sakaraans and Ronan’s other goons swinging at them, determined to keep them from their leader’s chambers. _What has happened to you?!_ They wondered even as they beat back another sakaraan, slamming it against the unforgiving walls. _Can you not see this is all destruction? Have you lost all goodness…._ the wood god fought with remorse, sprouting thorns and clobbering any who would try to harm either them or Drax or Quill. _Beyond help…like those scientists in Halfworld…like the arbor masters…perhaps…there are those…who have lost the light has faded completely…_ they contemplated sadly thrusting their elongated arm through a bat of oncoming soldiers. Flinging them this way and that, the wood god allowed themselves to feel that rage Rocket lived nearly every waking moment. _It was not fair that we should’ve fallen from our place….not fair that the arbor masters did terrible things….not fair our planet was destroyed…_ they cried out, rage fueling their fit. _How dare we be tortured! How dare Hannah and all those other creatures be imprisoned!_  With a final grunt, Groot whipped their arm back into place, watching the soldiers collapse. They turned to Quill and Drax, a conflicted sense of satisfaction making them smile.

“Quill you better hurry!” Rocket’s frantic voice made Groot start. “We’re getting our asses kicked down here.” Groot waited in apprehension as the doors flew open, revealing him: _Ronan…such malice…beyond the light…murdered so much…destroyed untold life…_ the flora colossus glared as Quill shot the ominous man through with the hadron enforcer. The accuser starred wide eyed, and all was lost to smoke. _We did it!_ Groot cheered, _yes! We did it!_  But the joy was short-lived. Liquid agony spread through the wood god, watching Ronan reemerge from the blackness.  In an instant they were flung backward, Groot let out a moan of pain as their bark shattered against metal. Through their spinning mind, they glared. _Rocket thinks he is a monster but he is wrong…..this creature…he is a true monster._

“I am Groot!” Groot shouted as Drax lunged for Ronan.

“I was mistaken,” the accuser snarled, holding Drax in a chokehold. “I do remember killing your family. Their screams were pitiful….” Groot wobbled to their feet a loud ringing sounding from far off and…. _CRASH! Hot explosive metal….shattering…_ a ship tore it’s way through the front of the Dark Aster sending Ronan, Drax, Gamora Peter, and themselves stumbling to the ground for cover. Debris rained down amid the ringing in their head.

 _Rocket….Rocket…._ They could feel their friend close by _…somewhere amid the wreckage…the flames…get to him!_ Groot stood, _heat…smoke…fire…silence…no more engines…falling…falling_ the wood god felt the sickening plummet of the ship even as they righted themselves, shaking their head through the flaming debris. _Where is Rocket?_ They peered around, searching and gradual relief swept over them as they watched Gamora fling a large piece of metal off herself. _Bruised but all right…for now…falling…falling into Xandar…so many people will be crushed…_ The wood god turned, searching for their friend and watched as Quill carried Rocket to them in his arms. _Hurt….they are all hurt…._ Gamora grunted, dragging an unconscious Drax over to them. _Burning…falling…_ the wood god searched, the ship Rocket had smashed into the Aster was reduced to a burning pile of metal. _No other way out…we’re going to fall…to die…._ a sickening feeling twisted in their gut, _we’ve all come so far…no…no it can’t end like this…not in fire and iron…_ rubble crashed down about them, hot and stinging. _No…not like this…we cannot…._ it dawned on them then, the world pod whispering within and they knew there was no other way.

 _….But Planet X I’ll never restore it…….Hannah, I never found her….the world pod, any hope for the flora colossus…_ they could make their peace with these things. _Planet X will live on in the memories of others…Hannah was free wherever she was…the world pod would be obliterated but perhaps it was alright. There were other forces of love and creation in the world…I’ve seen them myself._ Groot thought lovingly, spreading out their arms as branches began to grow forth, wrapping around the rest of them. _But Rocket…falling…falling…_ their branches could hardly grow fast enough, they let out their golden spores along with their branches… _must make a place of love and kindness…a sanctuary…safety…protect and love…_ they looked at Rocket, that wounded creature who’s short life had contained nothing but agony, scalpels, blood and grief and… _..and love…_ oh Groot cherished him so. Gamora’s face gazed up at him, full of emetic disbelief and sorrow, as if she knew. Quill frowned in confusion and Groot’s heart sank as they watched their dearest friend stir, _sleep Ro….don’t want you to see…_ though selfishly they were glad they’d be able to at least say good bye. Slowly branches and leaves circled them all, obscuring the burning of the ship. The vessel groaned and vibrated as it fell. _This is good…this…this is the legacy of the wood gods…_ Groot told themselves, clear sap gathering in their eyes as Rocket dragged himself upward out of Quill’s hold.  Groot’s body melted into the maze of branches and twigs, the golden spores shrouding them in golden luminescence. The cocoon they created becoming a tranquil place of sorrowful, ineffable beauty. 

“No Groot!” Rocket’s shattering voice cried with conviction. Groot watched their friend run to them, small paws clinging to their bark, making their heart sink. “You can’t!” He beseeched a whispered broken candor, his eyes liquid with desperate longing. _Oh Rocket…._ Groot’s own proverbial heart broke as the ship around them plummeted. The raccoonoid’s paws gripped their bark tight. _You are worthy of all the wonders of the world…my sweetest friend…._ The wood god wished. Rocket’ forest fire eyes burning, burning, burning, looked into the flora colossus’s soul. _Love._ “You’ll die!” The raccoonoid breathed, looking them over, tears rimmed Groot’s own eyes. They did not want to leave Rocket, fear held them fast but so did purpose. _I love you Rocket….I love all of you. I hope that I have shown you that,_ Groot whished. _There is a strength in tenderness, a softness and a resilience to vulnerability._ “Why are you doing this?!” Rocket exclaimed with false anger. Groot looked into their eyes, _it is the only way. Life, death and rebirth…someday you will understand…._ If they were to be nothing more forever, Groot only wished they could bestow all of their profound gratitude, and love on to Rocket. On to all who needed it.

“Why?” _Such a simple question…_ even as the Aster fell and a heaviness of wanton obliteration made Groot coil, they held Rocket to them, growing a single vine from their chest. _An extension of my own heart….Ro…_ they lifted the vine gently, brushing the small wound above Rocket’s brow and down against his cheek, wiping at the tears. Rocket leaned against their touch, looking into their eyes desperately searching for some absolution there. Groot leaned close to him, feeling the vibrating screech of metal as the ship impacted Nova’s tower _not much time now…_ they used the last vestiges of strength to speak, looking at Rocket’s tattered soul…sap streamed down Groot’s own bark.

“We, are Groot.”  They held on to Rocket tight, growing more branches around his torso and pulling him close to his chest. This time the raccoonoid melted against them, Groot could feel the thrum-thrush of the raccoonoid’s heart beat against the dim song of the world pod. Cherishing the warm fur against their bark, giving them strength, though they both trembled. _What is the sacredness of life....aren’t the most enduring and spectacular of living things nourished by the water of tears? Strife, warmth, and yes anger too; family, friendship……it is nothing less than the reason for creation. To cry, to laugh…to live itself…and if we are to die as all thing must…may we die in the sunlight so that others may grow strong from the opening of light._ The wood god allowed rays of anticipation to flourish, in their final moments they felt naught but the freedom of sacrifice and the levity of boundless love. All was shimmering gold more beautiful then Planet X, with their greatest friends safe around them and Rocket cradled in their arms so tight, the wood god felt no pain. Radiance, weightlessness, and…

 

**The End**


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